Nightmares
by Kat-Knife
Summary: Rose has always been the overlooked child, the one that her parents ignored in favor of her brother, Hugo, all because she was different from them. She never knew how different until she learns that her parents have been lying to her, her whole life. Rose descends into a world of deceit, lies, and betrayal as she uncovers the truth, helped along by strange nightmares.
1. Prologue

_Running. Running. Always running, that's how it always was. Her legs stumbled over the uneven ground as she ran in blind panic, clutching her most revered possession tightly in her hand. The scenery passed by in a blur; tree branches whipping her face and arms as she whizzed by, desperate to escape. Her ragged breath came out in puffs of white smoke as the stitch in her size increased with her panic. There was no hope. They would catch up with her soon and then it would be over. She could hear them, their dark presence growing stronger, relentlessly pursuing her._

_She let out a choked sob as she stumbled again over a tree root and fell in an undignified heap on the ground, bruising her palms in the fall. She trembled with fear and horror as she realized that they had caught up with her. They reached out to her, with hoods covering their faces, mocking her with their cruel, high laughter. As one of them reached out to her, she screamed in terror and dread; dread for what they would do to her._

She woke up screaming as well, a high-pitched scream that reflected her terror and fear. She sat upright in bed, tears streaming down her face, heartbeat galloping, palms sweating and clutched the bed sheets to her trembling form.

As the horror of the nightmare faded away, she relinquished the now wet sheets from her slippery grasp, reached over to her nightstand and flipped on the lamplight. She reached into the drawer of her nightstand and with fumbling hands, retrieved her dream journal. She had started keeping the journal two months ago, after she had first started receiving the same type of horrific nightmares. After she quickly jotted down her newest nightmare, she flipped through the pages of the journal and looked through it to skim over her previous nightmares. They were all generally the same, she was always running from something, clutching a prized object in her hand. She could never distinguish what the object was, only that it was her most prized possession. She has surmised that it was some type of weapon because during previous nightmarish encounters with the same dark beings, she had used the object to shoot some type of laser like beam at her pursuers and slowed them down. She had never been able to actually run away or escape from her pursuers, only evade them for some time before they inevitably caught up with her. Then the real horrors would begin, they would begin by torturing her. She didn't know quite how they did it. They seemed to utter some sort of nonsensical word like 'Sectumsempra' or 'Crucio' and then she would feel blinding pain. 'Crucio' seemed to cause the worst pain, which spread out through her body and felt like concentrated hot needles were being driven into her defenseless flesh. 'Sectumsempra' felt more like a deep cut, that skewered through the defenses of her clothing and ripped into her flesh. This would continue for a while. She never knew how long, it could be minutes, hours, days; at this point she usually passed out during the nightmare and woke up screaming in her own bed.

She was thankful that today at least she had woken up before they had started torturing her. The dreams were always variations of the same nightmare and god did she hate it with a burning passion. She had tried so many methods to get rid of the accursed nightmares. She had seen a hypnotist, taken sleeping pills, and to her everlasting shame, talked to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist had recommended a dream journal so she could keep track of the dreams. She was supposed to bring the dream journal in every week and they would discuss her nightmares in detail. The psychiatrists had evaluated from her vivid nightmares that her body was under an immense amount of stress and was coping by producing the nightmares. She hadn't exactly agreed with that evaluation though, she was not particularly stressed about anything in her life. She had a stable job, a loving family, supportive friends, no partner, but she was working on that. Still she had kept the dream journal in hopes that it would produce some type of mitigating result. She was frustrated though, the dream journal wasn't helping, in fact that nightmares had gotten worse lately. The nightmares came almost every night and the overwhelming fear that she felt during the nightmares seemed to be amped up a notch every night.

She sighed, running a hand through her sweaty, knotted up curls. She took a quick peek at her alarm clock and realized that it was three am in the morning. At this rate she would never get back to sleep. She didn't know how long she could keep going on like this, at this rate she would become an insomniac and never get any sleep. These days she was lucky if she was able to sleep for three hours a night without waking up from a nightmare. She knew she wouldn't be able to get any more sleep today. She threw the dream journal back into the nightstand drawer, swung her legs over the edge of the bed, slipped her feet into her slippers, shuffled over to her dressing gown, which was flung over a chair, and slipped it on. She slowly walked through her darkened apartment to her kitchen, flipping on lights to chase away the remnants of her fear.

She quickly gathered the ingredients necessary to make strong, black coffee from her cabinets and brewed up a batch of her favorite, piping hot confection. Sitting with her head in her hands at her kitchen table, she sighed again. She needed some answers fast, before she became totally crazy or died from a heart attack from the nightmares in her sleep. She knew that there was only one option left, the option she had been dreading because it involved some unsavory questions directed at her. She was going to call her mother. She made a distasteful face at the thought but realized that her mother was probably the only who could help her through this mess. She loved her mother but her incessant questions sometimes came across as overbearing and patronizing. Of course, her mother already disapproved of the fact that she was living in a totally different continent than her parents, so it seemed that she would never be able to totally appease the highly intelligent woman.

Looking at the kitchen clock, she realized that it was already four am, meaning that in England it was seven pm, the perfect time to call her mother. She quickly gathered whatever courage she had left, shuffled over to her telephone and dialed the number of her mother. Internally she was hoping that her mother wouldn't pick up the phone, but her hopes were dashed when the phone was picked up on the second ring by an overly inquisitive and sardonic voice.

"Well hello Rose Weasley, it's certainly been awhile since you last called."

* * *

**A/N: Well, this happens to be the first story I've ever written so I would appreciate any reviews expressing your hatred, love, or indifference. Tell me what you think of this story, what I could do to make it better and what you think is going to happen next. ****Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once:"I solemnly swear that I own absolutely none of the characters of the wonderful J.K. Rowling. The only part of this story I own is the plot and the occasional OC character that might be part of the story."**


	2. Encounters at the Airport

"Hi Mum, I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you." Rose wryly said.

"Oh sweetheart, you know that I always have time for you, besides it's not that late here." floated back the voice of one Hermione Weasley, "How are you doing? I know you have been very busy with your work."

"Oh, I'm mostly fine, I-I j-just need to speak with you about something that has been bothering me for a while." Rose's voice quivered over the phone.

Immediately her mother replied with her usual fussing and curiosity, "What's wrong sweetheart, has something happened?"

Rose took a deep breath and spilled the whole terrifying tale to her mother, how she had felt when she had first started receiving the nightmares, the horrific content of her nightmares, and the solutions that she had tried to make them disappear.

Her mother was quiet on the phone when she finally finished her rambling story.

"How long has this been going Rose?" asked the concerned, quiet voice of her mother.

"Almost two months now, it seems to be getting worse each time I go to sleep. I'm so afraid and I-I j-just don't know what else to do!" Rose choked out to her mother in a strangled voice.

"Rose, I think you need to come home for the holidays this year. Come home to England. I know you want to celebrate the winter holidays with Grandpa and Grandma Granger, but we need to speak about this." beseeched the voice of Hermione Weasley over the telephone.

"Mum, I know this is bad but I don't think it's a good idea for me to come back to England for the holidays. You know how much Grandpa and Nana adore me and I can't leave them alone for the holidays!" Rose implored to her mother.

"No Rose, this is very serious and while I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me sooner, I'm glad that you at least told me. We need to discuss this among other things and I'm sure Grandpa and Nana will be fine on their own for Christmas." answered her mother in a firm voice, leaving no room for argument. "For right now, I want you to continue taking sleeping pills, writing in your dream journal and seeing your therapist. If the nightmares continue to get worse than I am always here for you to talk to, otherwise I'll see you in two weeks during Christmas. By the way, your father says hello and hopes that you bring back something _exciting_ for Christmas for him and Hugo, from Australia."

"All right Mum, tell Dad hello from me and also, that I will bring back something appropriately _exciting_ for him and Hugo." Rose told her mother in a defeated but lighter voice.

"Bye Rose, I love you, take care sweetheart," her Mum said tenderly.

"I will Mum, I love you too." Rose replied wearily before hanging up the phone and slumping down on the kitchen table.

That had gone slightly better than expected. At least her mother hadn't yelled at her for being irresponsible and not calling sooner. In fact, all she had done was guilted her into coming back home for Christmas and facing the hordes of questions that her parents, her mother more than her father, would ask about everything from her life in Australia, to the fact that she was still single at the age of twenty-one. 'Great', she thought sarcastically to herself.

Her weary head hit the kitchen table with a slump and she groaned in frustration and exasperation. God, two weeks was nowhere near enough time for her to mentally prepare herself for her crazy family and of course, she would have to not only deal with her crazy family but also the horde of cousins and various family members from her Dad's side of the family, who seemed to be forever at her parents home.

_'God save me!'_ she thought to herself with a small laugh and shake of her head. It was going to be a long holiday.

* * *

She took one last, forlorn look at her cozy apartment before sighing again and getting into the taxi. As the taxi wove its way through the traffic of Sydney, Australia, to the airport, Rose leaned her head against the window and caught glimpses of the city that she had grown to love when she had first come to Australia ten years ago to attend St. Catherine's boarding school for girls. She remembered how excited and happy she had been. Her parents had been shocked and angry that she had applied to the boarding school without their permission, but she had been defiant and sworn that the only school that she would attend would be St. Catherine's because it happened to have the best medical program to help prepare students for medical school. Her parents had finally consented after a lot of arguing, tears, and promises from her grandparents on her mother's side, Grandpa and Nana Granger, who had promised to house Rose during the holidays and look out for her needs.

She loved her grandparents. They seemed to understand her and her thirst to gain as much knowledge as possible. Her parents were less understanding of her and her ambitions and a great divide had sprung up between them when she had left for Australia. The divide seemed to grow wider every year that she had ignored their wishes to come home for the winter and summer holidays. The last time that she had actually seen her parents face to face was at Hugo's seventeenth birthday, two years ago, which had ended with Rose covered in blue frosting, feathers and emerging from the pool with a scowl on her normally pretty face. She had stormed out from that party and taken a flight straight back to Sydney, Australia, and hadn't gone back since. She hadn't wanted to come in the first place. Who celebrated the seventeenth birthday of their child with such pomp and festivities? Wouldn't it have been better for her to attend the eighteenth birthday of her only brother? The birthday that actually mattered because it signified that he had become an adult? But no, her parents had insisted she come and the resulting fight that had occurred had further strained the relationship between her parents and her, farther.

The only reason that she had even called her Mum yesterday was because she was a Doctor at some obscure, prestigious Hospital and she had thought that her mother might have been able to prescribe her some type of medicine that made the nightmares disappear, but no, alas, she was not that lucky. Now she had to deal with the eccentricities of her parents and her father's extended family. She thought that the relationship between her and her parents might not be strained as it was, if it wasn't for her meddling cousins on her father's side. They seemed to always be popping up at her parent's house and meddling where they weren't wanted.

A scowl marred her face as she thought about her annoying cousins: Albus, with his happy-go lucky attitude, James and Fred, with their pranks, Lily, with her weird fashion sense, which consisted of wearing flowing robes, and countless more, red-headed cousins that she couldn't remember the names of.

She shook herself out of her depressing thoughts and took a look out the car window as she arrived at the Sydney Airport. The taxi driver loped over to the trunk of the car and took out her traveled, ratty, old suitcase with travel stickers adorning its scratched, surface. She opened her door as well, took her suitcase and carry-on from the taxi driver with a smile, and handed him her credit card so he could swipe her card against the machine. After she paid him, she quickly shouldered her carry-on and took her suitcase in her other hand so she could begin the long trek through the airport security before she boarded the plane.

* * *

He scowled at the muggle officer as the officer patted him down cautiously. Honestly he didn't even know why he hadn't just taken a portkey back to England. It would have probably been faster than waiting around here in Sydney at this muggle-infested airport. But no, he had wanted to prolong the trip back to England as long as possible so that he wouldn't have to face his parents. He scowled even more ferociously at the thought of his parents, which seemed to make the officer patting him down cringe in fear and he hurriedly scurried away. His parents had insisted that he spend his winter holidays with them because they apparently had some very important news to tell him. He couldn't fathom what exactly this earth-shattering news was because as far as he knew, his father had said that his grandparents would also be there at the manor for the holidays, which meant the news had to be pretty big if his father was actually willing to be in the same room as his grandfather for the duration of three weeks.

He had been having so much fun in Sydney. No expectations, no dirty looks when he walked down the street and people noticed his white-blonde hair, sun-kissed girls, who were more than willing to give him the time of the day, and most importantly no Lily. He smiled dreamily at the thought and attracted the attention of more than one girl in the room.

As he shuffled through the never-ending line of the airport boarding lane, he smacked into the person ahead of him, an petite redhead, with a mane of curly red hair that seemed to have a mind of its own.

"Hey watch it!" cried the attractive redhead, as the momentum of his body hitting hers propelled her into the metal barrier and caused her to fall over onto the floor, which caused her carry-on to hit the head of the person ahead of her.

As the person ahead of her turned around to glare at both him and the redhead, the attractive blonde quickly told her "Oh, I'm sorry Miss," as he helped her off the floor, picked up her carry-on and handed it back to her, "I couldn't see where I was going. I was blinded by your _charming_ hair. Your hair seems to have a mind of its own. "

"Hey!" cried the redhead, "You are such a rude arse! At least have the decency to actually apologize to me for knocking me and my luggage over, without making rude comments about my hair!"

He blinked, a bit taken aback by the ferocity of the glare that the redhead was fixing him with and her indignant tone. He had only made the comment about her hair as an icebreaker. He had figured the redhead would take one look at him, blush and then apologize for knocking into _him_. After that they would make some small conversation before they boarded the plane, where he would hunt her down and then proceed to ravish her in the bathroom. At least that's what he figured would have happened, clearly this girl was either blind or not into men since she was still glowering at him.

"Hey calm down," he placatingly told her, palms held up in the air, signifying peace, "Are you blind or not into handsome men?"

"WHAT?" the redhead screamed at him in fury.

"I mean there is clearly something wrong with you if you can't recognize that it's your fault that you walked into me. I figured it was because you were admiring me and became distracted, thus causing _you_ to walk into _me_, but if you think it's my fault that I knocked into you then it's clearly because you're either blind or not into handsome men." He said, smirking, as her face became an alarming maroon color.

"I DON'T think you're handsome, in fact, you're a disgusting pervert, who clearly has no other options of satisfying your perverted fantasies than knocking into helpless woman at the airport. As to your other question, I'm neither blind nor attracted to women, I'm just intelligent enough to recognize incompetent, ignoramus idiots!" She yelled at him, her hands balled into fists in front of her body as if ready to fight.

"Look you-" He began, before being cut off by a skinny, brown-haired airport security guard in his mid thirties, who was glancing between the blonde and redhead with a nervous look in his eyes.

"Sir, Ma'am, please, this is an airport, not a fight club. If you would like to continue to argue and fight with each other, I'll have to escort you out." He firmly told them.

The redhead spluttered angrily at the security guard "He-I- you can't-"

He interrupted her incoherent rambling by extending a congenial hand to the security guard and said, "Don't worry sir, I've got this under control, no one will need to be escorted anywhere. Thank you for your concern."

"Alright. If you say so sir." The airport security guard looked dubiously at both the blonde and the redhead and then walked off, muttering under his breath about irresponsible college students causing a ruckus.

As the redhead looked away from the retreating back of the security guard, to the blonde, the blonde held up his hands in surrender and said, "Look, maybe we should start over, we obviously got off to a bad start. My name is Scorpius Malfoy."

"And I don't care what your name is because I'm not interested!" retorted the angry redhead, who deftly turned away from him and stood back in line, making sure that her curly mane hit his body. He guessed that she had wanted to aim for hitting his face with her hair but she was far too short to achieve that and had instead settled for hitting his chest with her curly mane.

He allowed a small grin to grace his face before he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

_'Maybe this won't be such a long and boring journey after all, especially if I get a seat near her.'_ He thought with some humor.

* * *

Rose huffed in impatience, standing in line at the airport was not her idea of fun and the pompous blonde git, standing behind her, was no help.

'Ugh', she thought with a grimace as she remembered the attitude of the blonde idiot standing behind her. He was obviously one of those rich playboys who went around seducing innocent women, sleeping with them and then never calling them back. She had no interest in such men and would be damned before she ever allowed herself to be swept off her feet by the arrogant blonde behind her.

Finally the never-ending line to board the plane came to an end and she was able to board the plane in peace. She quickly located her seat, unfortunately it was a middle seat, so she would be in this seat for close to 20 hours, but thankfully she didn't have to change planes so she wouldn't have the hassle of moving from her seat. Ah well, she sincerely hoped that her seatmates were slim so that she wouldn't be squished in the middle.

Rose dumped her carry-on above her seat, slumped into her chair and closed her eyes; her worries rushing back to her in a wave. She was normally a very rational and unspontaneous person, yet here she was boarding a plane to England all because she couldn't find a cure for her nightmares. It was pretty pathetic of her to run back to her mother so she could solve all of her problems. She was a grown woman, twenty-one years old; she should be able to deal with her problems by herself. Yet, the nightmares were pretty scary, she conceded with a sigh. In fact, over the course of the two weeks since she had talked to her mother, they had gotten worse, bordering on painful to her waking self. Whenever she woke up from the nightmares now, her body seemed to reflect the torture that her dream self endured. Her muscles screamed in pain when she woke up, there were scratches all over her face and arms, where her dream self had scratched herself while being tortured. Just this past week she had gotten a total of five hours of sleep. Maybe today on her flight she would be able to sleep without the nightmares plaguing her. That's what she hoped anyway; it could turn out that she would wake up screaming bloody murder on the plane and cause a panic. God, she hoped not.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as a familiar, tall, blonde figure entered her line of vision. She watched with growing horror as the blonde menace dumped his carry-on on the luggage carrier next to hers and then slumped on the seat on her immediate right.

"Well. Well, it's certainly _good_ to see you red." The blonde menace drawled as he smirked at her horrified and surprised expression.

'It's going to be a long flight.' She thought with a grimace.

* * *

It turned out that she was indeed right. It had been a long flight. After the blonde menace, as she had named him, sat down into the seat next to hers, another woman, by the looks of her, a ditzy underwear model, had perched down into the seat on her left with a practiced air. The underwear model's eyes were automatically drawn to the blonde menace, sitting to Rose's right, and she ignored Rose in favor of reaching across her body to shake the hand of the blonde menace.

The blond menace and the underwear model had seemed to really hit it off and were contently talking over the top of Rose's head. Rose had settled so far into her seat that her face was level with the TV screen attached to the back of the seat in front of her. The voices of the blonde menace and the underwear model were soothing, almost calming in nature, as they nattered on about nothing...and she had received so little sleep...

_She was running through a forest, a forest of oak trees, she mused detachedly. She was clutching the same prized object in her hand. This time she could actually see what the object was. It seemed to be a long rod, almost a stick, a smooth, refined stick. This was her revered possession, her supposed weapon against her relentless pursuers? She snorted in detached bemusement as her feet continued to carry her through the forest._

_She could hear a faint voice, a familiar feminine voice, over the sound of her pounding heartbeat. A figure came crashing out of the foliage just to the right of her._

_"RUN!" the figure cried in a familiar, panic stricken voice._

_Rose looked about in astonishment as the figure of her mother, who was wearing a strange robe like garment, ran up to her now still form, grabbed her hand and forced her to run with her, half-dragging Rose's body along with her._

_"Mum, what are you doing here?" Rose asked her wild-eyed mother, as they continued to crash through the foliage on their wild escape from their pursuers._

_"They're after us Rose! The Death Eaters!" Her mother told her in a frightened voice, "We can't let them catch us Rose! Keep running!"_

_But Rose could already feel the last dregs of adrenaline start to fade away as her body started slowing down._

_"Rose, RUN!" shouted the voice of her terrified mother, still tugging on Rose's arm, fruitlessly trying to get her to run faster. But it was already too late. Rose could hear their pursuers gaining on them; she could hear the neighing of their coal, black horses as they thundered toward them. Then they were upon them. Rose could now see the strange countenance of the people that had surrounded them in a loose semi-circle. They were mounted upon giant, coal, black horses, the red eyes of the horses gleaming evilly in the moonlight forest. Their pursuers were dressed in the standard black of their respective companions. What was strange about their clothing was the fact that it was almost medieval in origin. They were dressed in black cloaks that framed their bodies sharply, allowing them to blend in with the shadows. All of them had their hoods pulled up, so all that could be seen of their faces was the same black shadows that seemed to cling to the rest of their bodies._

_Her mother had put a protective arm around her and pulled Rose's body behind hers so that she was somewhat shielded from their pursuers. Her mother had also pulled out from her strange robe like clothing a piece of wood, similar to the one that Rose was still clutching tightly in her hand. Her hand held the stick in her right hand in a defensive manner, as if she planned to fire the stick like it was a gun and beat their pursuers away._

_The horses' breath's came out in white puffs as they exhaled, the only sound that seemed to exist during this perfectly still moment as each group surveyed the other. Rose's Mum was defiantly looking around the clearing, still clutching her weapon of choice, a stick._

_As the two groups continued to look upon each there was a small movement from the rider to the right of Rose and in one swift movement, the rider pulled out a stick, similar to the one Rose and her mother were holding, and before her mother could do anything, the rider pointed the stick at her mother and shouted the words "AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

_In slow motion, Rose watched as a beam of green light hit her mother square in the chest, throwing her back several feet in the air. She looked like a rag doll, as she was flung into the air and then came crashing down, with a sickening thump, into the side of a solid oak tree._

_Rose screamed a long, drawn out, tortured scream as she tried to rush to her mother's side, but she could already see that it was too late. Her mother's body was so still, too still. Her skull split open from the impact with the tree, dripping blood onto the still Earth._

She woke up screaming again. Sitting upright in her seat, thrashing, trying to free herself from a tight grip. As she gained her bearings she realized that someone was shaking her, trying to get her to stop screaming, which she was still doing. With a graceless shut of her jaw, she stopped screaming. Pushing her unruly hair out her eyes she noticed that the blond menace was the one who had been shaking her, and for one minute second she thought she could see something that closely resembled concern in his mercury eyes, before it was wiped away by the same arrogant smirk that had previously occupied his face.

"What's wrong with you red? Trying to raise the dead by screaming like a banshee?" the blonde menace asked her, releasing his tight hold on her body.

She ignored his question and focused on trying to draw deep breaths into her trembling form. She was covered in sweat and her hair was matted around her head. She finally noticed her surroundings. All the occupants of the seats near her were peering at her with concern and a flight attendant had stopped near Rose's seat, with a similar concerned look in her eyes.

"Are you all right Ma'am?" The concerned flight attendant asked her.

"I-I'm f-f-fine now." Rose told the flight attendant, her arms wrapped around her body trying to warm her shivering form.

"Do you need anything Ma'am?" the flight attendant asked her, peering at her closely.

"N-no, I-I don't need anything, thank you." Rose told her still shivering.

"All right, Ma'am if you're sure." The flight attendant said, before moving on towards the back of the plane.

"So red, what's wrong with you?" questioned the ever-persistent blonde seated to her right.

"N-n-nothing!" Rose tried to tell him, still shaking. She felt like she was close to having a mental break down and start sobbing on the plane, but she wouldn't give the arrogant man the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She was shaken up from the horrendous nightmare that had felt so real. She could still remember the cold that she had felt seeping into her bones when she had seen the still form of her mother lying comatose on the ground.

"Obviously there is something wrong with you since you're still shaking like a leaf." retorted the now annoyed blonde, "Here", he said roughly, taking off his expensive looking leather jacket and thrusting it into her hands."

Rose violently shook her head, and tried to give the jacket back to him, but he ignored her protests and reached to her shaking form to drape the jacket over her shoulders. Rose was sure that she looked like a waif in the jacket, she was practically swimming in it. The ditzy underwear model looked rather put off by the fact that Rose had stolen the attention of the blonde from her. Rose mentally snorted at that, like she had purposefully had that nightmare to steal the attention of the pompous blonde.

She finally stopped protesting, when the warmth of the jacket, from his body heat, seeped into her shivering body and dispelled the chill that seemed to have trickled into her bones. The jacket seemed to have a calming scent that soothed her frazzled nerves. She couldn't quite place the scent, it was subtle, a sort of clean, lemony scent.

"Just go back to sleep red, I think you need it." the blonde told her, looking uncharastically serious. Rose just mutely shook her head, silently protesting. The blonde just shrugged at her, turned away from her and started talking to the ditzy, underwear model again.

She sat lethargically in her seat, cocooned in the giant jacket, staring at the blank television screen in front of her. That nightmare had been so different from her previous ones. For one thing her mother had been part of it. The second thing, where had the horses come from? She didn't recall ever seeing the evil-looking beasts in any of her previous nightmares. They seemed to exude a kind of dark aura that perfectly matched the countenance of their riders. What had her mother meant when she had told her to run from the '_Death Eaters_'? Were the the group that had been chasing them? And of course, the thing that had really shaken her up was the fact that she had watched her mother die brutally in front of her eyes. That had been the single worst thing that she had seen in her nightmares. Rose knew that she wasn't very close to her mother, but still, she didn't want the woman to die.

As her body finally stopped shivering, Rose reached out a now steady hand to the TV screen attached to the back of the seat in front of her and turned it on. She flipped through the various menu screens until she finally saw her favorite movie of all time. Nemo. It was the first animated movie that she had watched on her first flight, at the age of eleven from London, England to Sydney, Australia. She plugged the headphones that were provided into the side of the television screen, put the headphones on, sat back and relaxed, inhaling the smell of the clean scent of the jacket.

* * *

She was roused from her sleep, with a rough shake.

"Come one red, it's time to rise and shine," chirped an overly cheery voice.

Rose sleepily rubbed her eyes and stretched her hands above her head. As she gained her bearings she realized that the plane had already landed and people were getting their luggage down from above their seats. She quickly got up and looked around. The blonde menace was standing to the side of her, rummaging around in the compartment above his seat, trying to get his luggage down. As she watched, he grabbed his carry-on and swung it down, hitting the side of her head.

"Hey!" she said indignantly.

"Sorry red, didn't see your crazy head there." He said, smiling down at her furious face.

"Well, its been a long, interesting journey! But now it's time for us to part our ways until next time. Now don't worry your pretty little head, red, there will most definitely be a next time." The Blonde remarked, his smile morphing into a full out grin as her face turned a tomato red.

"I would say I had a pleasant journey with you, but I would be lying, so I'll just say goodbye and good riddance." Ground out the angry redhead, flouncing away from the Blonde and reaching up to get her own luggage down from the compartment.

He watched in amusement as her luggage fell on top of her head and she walked away from him, staggering under the weight of her carry-on.

"Hey, you never told me your name red!" Shouted the Blonde from behind her.

She turned around for one long moment and scrutinized his face, finally she sighed and said wearily, "It's Rose, not red." Then she turned away from him and walked away, blending into the crowd of people struggling to get off the plane.

* * *

**A/N:** **So this happens to be the second chapter of my story. As you can see it's just over 5,000 words. I'll try to keep each of my chapters this length, which means you can expect the next chapter to be up next Friday. I have also reposted the first chapter of this story. I just made some minor grammar changes and added a disclaimer at the bottom so you don't have to go back and re-read it. Please tell me what you think of this story in a review. Tell me if you love it, hate it, or simply don't care; I appreciate all feedback. **


	3. Coming Home

Scorpius watched with a small smirk as she slipped away from him and into the crowd.

_'So Rose, is it?_' mused Scorpius to himself. _'She certainly made the plane ride interesting.'_

He had been rather shocked when she started screaming and thrashing uncontrollably in her seat. He had panicked, so he had started shaking her, trying to get her to snap out of it. When she had finally stopped screaming and opened her eyes, he had been rather concerned, especially when he had seen a wild-eyed, almost frightened look that came into her eyes. The frightened look had slowly ebbed away from her face and he had quickly released her and wiped away the concerned look in his own eyes.

He had offered her his jacket because she looked like she was about to pass out and he really couldn't argue with an unconscious person.

Speaking of his jacket... She had taken it with her! The little minx had taken his favorite leather jacket with her!

He scowled fiercely at the that revelation, his good mood disappearing into thin air. He would find some way to get his jacket back. It had sentimental value, he hadn't even let Lily ever wear it and Rose had just taken it with her and disappeared among the millions of people that lived in London, England. If only she had mentioned her last name, he might have been able to look it up in one of those muggle phonebooks and track her down. For all he knew, she was just visiting London. She had after all, had an Australian accent.

He sighed, running a hand through his messy hair (not as messy as Albus's, but pretty close), just another thing to add to his growing list of things that he had to worry about. Being back iin England was already starting to suck.

He trotted off the plane, easily pushing his way through the throng. After he had found his suitcase, he wheeled it into the nearest lavatory and apparated to Wiltshire Manor.

* * *

As Rose wheeled her suitcase through the crowd, she kept a lookout for her mother's telltale bushy hair. She finally spotted her, standing at the edge of the crowd, smiling warmly at Rose. It felt good to see her mother looking healthy and whole, quite unlike the broken image of her dream self.

She greeted her mother with a smile and after setting her luggage down, leaned in to give her a hug.

"It's good to see you again Mum." Rose told her, her face nestled in her mother's warm embrace. She was warm and smelled like a combination of honey and vanilla with a hint of cinnamon.

Her mother looked surprised at her enthusiastic greeting but returned the sentiment with equal fervor.

"It's good to see you too Rose." Her Mum said with a smile. "Since when did you start looking so grown up?" Her mother tenderly asked her, releasing her hold on Rose to lean back and survey the daughter she hadn't seen in two years.

Rose grinned at her mother's words. "I don't know when I became so grown up, I guess it just came with the profession of studying to be a Cardiologist." Rose replied.

At 5'2 inches, or approximately 157 centimeters, Rose was no giant, but she still exuded a quiet fierceness that belied her height and made her seem taller. Rose had inherited her mother's hair to a certain degree, instead of being bushy, it was more curly. She had also inherited her father's firetruck red hair and blue eyes, but thankfully none of his freckles; she had her mother's porcelain skin.

She had dressed casually for the flight and just wore jeans and a long-sleeved, blue shirt paired with comfortable flats.

After surveying her form, her mother stepped back and ushered her to the outside world. Hermione Weasley hailed a taxi and they both sat down in the backseat of the taxi as the taxi driver put Rose's luggage in the trunk. The taxi driver came back to the front seat and they were off to Rose's childhood home.

Hermione Weasley acquired a puzzled look on her face as she silently drank in the sight of her daughter. "Where did you get that leather jacket from Rose? She asked, touching the leather jacket that still hung over Rose's shoulders.

"Leather jacket?" Rose asked blankly, before looking down at the leather jacket adorning her shoulders in alarm. "Oh no!" She exclaimed in distraught. "I forgot to give his jacket back him!"

"Who?" her Mum asked her curiously.

Rise paused, thinking, before she answered. If she told her mother the truth she would probably become worried and start treating her like a china doll, or worse, force her to stay in London so that her parents could keep an eye out for her. While she loved her mother, Rose did not want to stay in London for longer than the three weeks that she was allotted to stay for the duration of the Winter Holidays.

Her mother had noticed her hesitation and pounced on it. "Rose, is there something you need to tell me?" She asked warningly.

"It's my boyfriend's jacket."Rose blurted out without thinking. She mentally slapped herself when those words exited her mouth. Why had she said that? Her mother would ask even more questions now, but it would stop her nosy cousins, especially Lily, from nagging at her about not having a boyfriend.

Her mother's face crinkled in confusion. "When did you get a boyfriend?" she asked.

"It was recent development." Rose smoothly lied, "We met in Australia in a cafe. At first he infuriated me and made me want to hit him, but everyday, without fail, he came to the cafe and slowly I learned more about him. I really started to look beyond his arrogant, outer shell and into his caring and sweet interior. Eventually he asked me out and we really hit it off. In fact, he asked me to become his girlfriend just before I boarded the plane."

Rose couldn't beloved the fairytale lie she had spun about the arrogant Blonde. She would bet all of her books that the blonde didn't have a 'caring' or 'sweet' bone in his body. She mentally snorted at the thought of him actually doing all the things that she had proclaimed he had done. Thankfully her mother had seemed to believe her pack of lies.

After asking Rise some more miscellaneous questions about her life in Sydney, her mother fell silent.

"So, how have things been here in London?" Rose asked her mother politely to stave off any more questions about her fake boyfriend.

"They've been good." Her mother said, playing with the wedding ring on her finger. "I'm doing well as a doctor and your father recently received a promotion at his job; he's been given an administrative position in the police department. He, of course, hates it because he's not able to go out there and be an active part of the force, but you know how it is; he's getting older and I'm afraid that he'll get hurt during one of their operations."

"What about Hugo? How is he doing? Has he started attending a university yet?" Rose asked her mother curiously.

"Ah, no," her mother said delicately, "He's decided to forgo going to a university and he's dived straight into the police forces. You know how much he looks up to your father and he really is very excited about the training he's receiving, he's doing very well."

"So, he's not even going to think about attending a university?" Rose asked incredulously. "What if something happens to him during an operation and he gets hurt? He has to have something to fall back on if he wants to keep his options open!"

"Rose," her mother said tiredly, "I understand where you're coming from but Hugo really wants this and he's promised me that he'll be careful, Ron has also been making sure that he's well protected on missions."

"But-" Rise said unhappily.

"Rose, just drop it." Her mother said warningly.

The rest of the car ride to Rose's childhood home was spent in an awkward silence. Rose hadn't even been in the country more than an hour and she'd already had her first fight with her mother. _'It was so typical of her parents to be such hypocrites about everything.'_ Rose thought bitterly. If Rose would have ever considered not going to a University, her parents would have had a war with her. She remembered when she was eighteen and had been considering the different colleges that she had wanted to attend. Her mother had sent her weekly parcels of information about universities in England, trying to convince her to at least finish her secondary education in England. Rose had declined and instead gone to the University of Melbourne in Australia.

She sighed, hopefully the rest of the holidays wouldn't be spent arguing with her family or sitting in awkward silence like now.

* * *

Scorpius apparated with a quiet _pop_ to the Manor, dropping his luggage in the lobby. He surveyed his surroundings with a decisive look in his eyes. The Manor looked exactly the same as it had the day that he left, nine months ago. The Manor was like a mausoleum at this time of the day and the somber atmosphere seemed to belie its usual cheerful grandeur. He was so caught up in inspecting his surroundings he didn't notice that his mother had quietly walked up behind him and was surveying him with a sad look in her eyes.

"I'm glad you're home Scorpius." Astoria Greengrass's quiet voice murmured, startling Scorpius out of his silent survey.

He turned his head around to see his mother looking back at him. She looked the same; blond, waist-length hair, dark green eyes, the same poise in the way that she held herself. The only thing that he could differentiate between the woman looking at him now and the woman who had looked at him the day that he had left, was a haunted look in her eyes that seemed to speak of some terrible woe that had befallen her while Scorpius was away.

"I would say its good to be home mother, but it would be a lie." Scorpius frankly told her.

She closed her eyes and winced at his harsh words before opening them again and strengthening her resolve.

"Your father is in his office. He would like you to come speak to him, before dinner." His mother told him, her voice strengthening as she watched his face morph into confusion.

"What's going on Mother? Why, exactly, was I summoned back home, when you know the reason that I left? Does this have anything to do with the _big _news that you're hiding from me?" Scorpius asked his mother suspiciously. He was sure that his mother and father were up to their usual scheming and he would be damned before he allowed them to manipulate his life again.

"No, this doesn't have anything to do with our news. This is something that we have put off telling you for a while and I think that it's time that you and your father discussed things in an open manner." Astoria quietly told him, watching his face as she tried to discern his expression.

"All right Mother, I'll go speak to Father now." He told her. He figured that it would be good to just get this meeting over with. He guessed that whatever his Father was going to tell him was going to be bad news and he would rather get this over with quickly. It would be just like ripping off a bandaid, quick and painless; hopefully.

"I'll have your bags brought up to your room." His mother said, summoning up a house elf.

He nodded at her and then started climbing the stairs of his childhood home, reminiscing about his childhood. He'd had a pretty nice life as a child, by any standards. His parents bought him anything money could buy. They were attentive and caring, a bit distant, for Malfoy's did not coddle their children, but he knew that they loved him unconditionally. His parents had read to him before bed every night; fed him chicken soup when he was sick; dressed up as treasure hunters with him and went "exploring"; had taught him how to fly...So many memories.

Yet it had all gone bad when he had started attending Hogwarts. There he had drifted away from his parents. There he had met the Potters. As soon as the sorting hat had touched his head he had been sorted into Slytherin, and as soon as the hat had touched Albus's head, he had been sorted into Gryffindor. They were polar opposites, yet somehow they had managed to find enough in common to become friends. It hadn't been easy at first. People had been bewildered by the fact that they could even talk civilly to each other without throwing hexes, much less the fact that they were friends. Both Al's parents and his parents had been rather uncomfortable with the idea but had reluctantly accepted it. Things had gone swimmingly until Scorpius's seventh year. Then he had met_ her_. Lily. He had always known Lily, after all she was the little sister of is best friend, but he had never really _seen_ her beyond the title of Al's little sister.

He had stayed at Al's house for the last two weeks of the summer holidays before seventh year, and had been in close contact with Lily. This was when he had realized what she was really like. He had _seen_ her for the first time. Her dark auburn hair, the gold flecks in her hazel eyes, the quirk in her mouth when she smiled, the freckles that dotted her nose. Over the summer, he had become a bit obsessed with his newfound understanding of Lily Luna Potter. She had fascinated him. She seemed to be his opposite at every turn. She was optimistic, bubbly, and just _happy._ He was pessimistic, sardonic, and sarcastic. They should have never gotten together; after all, opposites may attract but there is a difference between having a few differing opinions and outright counter opinions. But they had gotten together, the last few days of the summer holidays.

Al had been defensive and disgusted at first but he had eventually come around; even the famous 'Boy-who-lived', his wife, and the Weasley clan had reluctantly given them their blessing due to the fact that he had practically grown up with them. He had, after all, spent a portion of every summer since first year at Al's house, or the Burrow. His parents, surprisingly, had been the ones who had refuted his claim. They had sat down and talked to him about his relationship with Lily. They had told him some ugly truths. He had, of course, already known about what had transpired between Harry Potter and his father and the opposite sides of the war that they had been on, but he hadn't known the extent of what had happened. Lily's aunt, Hermione, had been_ tortured_ in his grandparent's home. His parents had asked him how he could ever live with dating the daughter of the 'Boy-who-lived' when he would be countered at every turn? People would raise eyebrows and heads would literally roll when this reached the media. Everyone would question their relationship. They had told him frankly that they didn't care about her blood status, the war had taught them that much at least, but they did care about her personality. They had told him that they would never be able to mesh, they were too different for this relationship to actually last.

Scorpius had waved away their concerns and he had started dating Lily Potter and all that she stood for. Things had been good, for a while at least. The media had been surprisingly lenient in its assessment of their relationship. A reporter named Skeeter seemed to be particularly in glee of their relationship and had run pages and pages of articles that showcased both of them as star-crossed lovers, complete with any and all pictures that meticulously documented their lives. He had later found out that Hermione Weasley had pulled a few strings with Rita Skeeter and _suggested_ to her that she should use a sympathetic angle to Scorpius and Lily's relationship.

But like all things, it had gone downhill when he had graduated. People had literally been in awe of the fact that their relationship had lasted longer than a week (it had lasted nine months). Lily had changed. She was not the same, sweet Lily that he had seen during the summer. She had seemed to change into someone who was manipulative, acerbic, and bad-mouthed. He could understand the language part, after all he was no saint, and frequently cussed like a sailor. The rest of it he couldn't understand. How could someone he had grown to like so much, maybe even love, be so _different, _than the person he had started dating?

They had broken up, to the delight of his parents, who had told him that it was for the best. Then they had gotten back together, and then broken up again. This was an unhealthy cycle that perpetuated like this for the next two years. They would make up and everything would be wonderful and then they would have a fight over something absolutely ridiculous, like the color of his socks, and they would be broken up again. Lily was usually the one who had instigated these fights and seemed sullen when he didn't rise to the bait, but sometimes she said something particularly cruel and he would snap. He would yell right back at her and they would have a screaming match until Lily ran out sobbing or he walked away, shaking his head in dismay. The fights had seemed to escalate as the cycle continued, in fact, they became more vicious. Lily had found a new way to pick fights with him and the topic she picked had infuriated him. His parents and the history of his family had been the new fuel that ignited their quarrels now. She knew just how to phrase her words so that he jumped into the metaphorical fighting ring with an unseen fury in his mercury eyes. This was different from the fights that they had previously. This was personal.

The cycle would have continued like this until one of them broke, it had gone on for two years, but, rather unexpectedly, one clear morning, nine months ago, it had fallen apart like a tower of cards; with a _poof_, there relationship was over and they were both left to pick up the broken remains of their lives.

He remembered the incident that had broken the cycle, her clear, brown eyes looking at him in dismay. He had been saddened to discover that the look in her eyes wasn't dismay that she had hurt him, instead it was dismay that he had discovered the truth.

He pushed the_ incident, _to the back of his mind and realized that his melancholy thoughts had carried him to the front of his Father's study. He took a deep breath and then exhaled noisily, trying to steel his resolve.

He knocked smartly, against the sturdy, oak door.

* * *

Rose watched as the cheerful house that she had spent her childhood in came into view, as the taxi meandered its way through the quiet, safe street,where no one locked their doors at night, finally stopping in front of her house.

_'My parent's house' _she quietly reminded herself. She didn't want to get caught up in the sentimental memories of growing up here. If she did, it might turn out that she would never be able to go back to her real home in Australia, with her _real_ family, her grandparents.

She allowed a small bit of sentiment to creep through her mind as she silently got out of the taxi and unloaded her luggage.

This was the house that she had lived in until she was eleven. This was the house where she had made pies, biscuits, and many different kinds of sweet confections (all sugar free of course), with her mother and brother. As she walked up the sidewalk, she remembered: she had learned to bike on that cracked sidewalk that her Dad had never fixed, even though her Mother had reminded him every year without fail. As she walked up the steps, the memories came back with greater force: those were the steps that she had fallen down and skinned her knees more than once, those were her handprints and footprints at the edge of the porch, sheltered from the elements, that had been her favorite swing (she had read on that rickety old thing since she was five).

Her heart stuttered as her hand closed upon the doorknob of the front door and she pushed against the door, jiggling the doorknob with precision that came from years of practice, and she finally saw a glimpse of the inside of the house that she hadn't seen in two years. Since that _incident_.

It looked the same. _'The exact same'_, she thought with a bit of disappointment. She had almost expected the house to have changed in her absence, just like she had changed. It was neat and tidy, with homy touches dotting the furniture. It didn't look a day older since she had left; she almost expected her eleven year self to come bounding out of the kitchen.

She didn't know why she was so emotionally affected by her memories of the house and all that had occurred here. She wasn't this affected when she last came, two years ago. She supposed it was because she had been angry then. She had been angry that her parents were still participating in the same act that they had been participating in since Rose and Hugo had been children. They had sent her money and a Weasley knitted sweater for her seventeenth birthday, but they had made a production of Hugo's seventeenth birthday. They'd had a party at their house with expensive cake (_not_ the sugar free kind), expensive gifts, expensive decorations. For the after party they'd even rented out a nightclub for Hugo and his friends to attend. Rose thought that this was entirely ridiculous. Hugo wasn't even old enough to drink. They'd hurriedly reassured her when she had voiced this concern, telling her that they had instructed the bartenders to only serve non-alcoholic drinks. She had been furious by their blasé attitude and saddened by the fact that they were still so obvious in their favoritism. They loved Hugo unconditionally and they showed it.

She didn't know when she had started noticing it; their differing attitudes towards Hugo and her. She supposed it had slowly crept up on her until she had suddenly woken up one day and just known that they loved Hugo more than her. It was a fact, just like the sky was blue and the grass was green; Hugo was loved more than her.

She hadn't really cared then, but all the little things had slowly started choking her. the way that her father said good morning when she walked down for breakfast, not looking up from his coffee. When Hugo walked into the room, her father not only looked up from his coffee but beamed at Hugo, setting down his newspaper to talk to him. Her mother wasn't so obvious in her favoritism, she was more subtle. When Hugo did something wrong he was given a timeout or had his desserts privilege taken away. When Rose did something wrong, not only was she given a timeout and her desserts privilege taken away, she was also berated by her mother for not being perfect. Her mother told her that she had to be the best and try to acheive perfection because otherwise,_ they_ would look down upon her. Rose had never really found out who _they_ were, she had figured that _they, _meant society and people in general.

All of this pressure and favoritism had broken her relationship with them. There were other factors, like the fact that her cousins, the Weasleys and Potters, often popped in for Christmas and holidays and stole the little attention that she received from her parents. She had decided at the young age of ten to figure a way out because she _couldn't_, _wouldn't_ live like this anymore. She had taken to searching boarding schools and preparatory schools in and around England on the computer in her elementary school library. She didn't use the computer at home because she knew that her mother would likley disapprove and maybe even put a stop to it. She had found a lot of good schools, but realized that she had to expand her search to include the Globe if she truly wanted to be free. She had finally found a school in Australia, St. Catherine's school for girls, far enough from her parents, and, as a a bonus, near her grandparents. She wasn't very close to her maternal grandparents. They had visted from time to time but were essentially like friendly strangers.

She had sent them a letter telling them about her plans and the reason behind her plans. She had found the address in her mother's phonebook, borrowed her mother's stamps from the drawer in her study, and given the letter to the mailman personally. She had realized after she had sent the letter that maybe she shouldn't have told them the truth. They were after all her mother's parents and what if they told her mother? She received her answer in a letter.

In a surprising twist of events, they supported her decision and were willing to house her during the holidays. Unfortunately her mother had found the letter in her room when she was cleaning and had blown up about it. She had refused to even think about letting her go halfway around the world to attend the school. Her father had been surprisingly quiet about the subject and one night Rose had heard him talking to her mother about letting Rose go. He had told her that she couldn't protect Rose forever and what would happen when Hugo got his letter and Rose didn't. They already knew that Rose wouldn't get her letter, that it was quite _obvious_ that Rose wouldn't be getting her letter, he had told her mother bitterly. Her heart had clenched when she had heard her mother weeping through the shut bedrrom door.

The next morning her mother had agreed and it was finaliazed. The forms were sent, her clothing packed and she was shipped off on a plane, just after the summer holidays ended, to Sydney, Australia.

She had always wondered what letter they were referring to that Hugo would get but she wouldn't, but she was too much of a coward to actually ask them about it.

Rose blinked away her melancholy and bitter thoughts, and fully stepped into the living room, her mother shutting the door behind her.

* * *

It was dinner and the only sound that could be heard was the quiet clink of silverware as it scraped against the side of their plates.

Rose was having an unusually silent dinner with both her mother and father. They were sitting on one side of the enormous table, while she sat on the other side. They hadn't made much conversation after she had arrived home. She had dumped her luggage in her room, making sure to drape the leather jacket carefully on a chair (she planned to return it at some point), and then taken a quick shower to get rid off any airport germs. When she had finished she had quickly gotten dressed to find her father home from work, looking the same as he had two years ago, slumped in an armchair. Rose and her father had made some small talk while her mother cooked dinner and then they had both trooped over to the worn dinner table and started eating.

It was unnerving to see the normaly cheerful face of her father looking so somber. Both of her parents looked like they were attending a dinner funeral, not meeting their long-lost daughter after two years.

Finally the unusual silence was broken by the sound of her father clearing his throat. Her mother put his hand on his, as if to give him reassurance, and he finally spoke.

"Rose, we have been meaning to tell you something that we did not want you to know because of the danger and prejudice that it entails." began Ronald Weasley. His voice faltered after the first sentence and her turned to his wife for words.

"Rose, this isn't easy to say and I don't really know how to say this. " Hermione Weasley said in a soft voice, staring over Rose's shoulder as if she couldn't bear to look at Rose, tears present in her eyes, trying to find words.

Rose was rather bewildered by this rather bizarre behavior displayed by her normally confident parents. "What is it?" she prompted, trying to prod them to tell her what the matter was.

"Rose, magic is real." her mother said with steel in her voice.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! I was going to update on Friday but I found time to write so I figured I would update early. First, I would really, really, really, like people to review. I know that people are reading this story because I looked at the traffic stats, which show that 200 people have viewed my story, yet I only have 3 reviews, (from some very nice people), which is a fraction of the people that are actually reading this story. It would really mean a lot to me if you reviewed. You review can be one word like 'good' or 'bad', or 'you should quit writing because this sucks', but please do it. Reviews motivate me to continue writing and I would really appreciate it if people reviewed. Now that my rant is over, I really hope that you like this chapter. I was going for happy but I got melancholy. This chapter is more of a filler chapter that exposes some of the reasons why Rose lives in Australia and the relationship between Scorpius and Lilly. The next chapter will be more happy, I promise. Lastly a shoutout to No.1HPfanLuvsHP and missjess15, thanks for reviewing!**


	4. The Truth Hurts

Rose started laughing hysterically, only stopping to take a breath.

"Seriously, what's the big secret?" She asked in between laughs, "You don't have to lie to me about_ magic_ being real."

Her parents looked at her in concern and then looked at each other, silently communicating.

"Rose, this isn't a joke," Hermione Weasley began, "magic is real and I can prove it to you."

She reached into the pocket of her jumper and withdrew a long, thin, cylindrical stick, quite similar to the stick that Rose had seen her mother carrying in her nightmare.

Rose's eyes widened comically, as her mother muttered something that sounded like a latin phrase, 'Wingardium Leviosa_', _swished the stick in her hand and pointed it at her clean dinner plate. As the words finished spilling from Hermione's mouth, the dinner plate rose up in a lazy manner, following the movements of the stick that Hermione Weasley was holding in her hand.

"Wha-How-Wh-!" Rose began, sputtering as the dinner plate continued to rise in a lazy manner, seemingly controlled by the stick that her mother was holding. As the dinner plate continued to rise, Rose started to feel faint and big, black spots clouded her vision. As her dumbfounded parents watched in horror, she fell off her chair and onto the floor, hitting her head on the edge of the dining table before she fainted. The dinner plate that her mother had been controlling simultaneously fell to the floor with a loud _crash, _perfectly in sync with Rose's ungraceful descent to the floor.

* * *

Scorpius took a big swig of the firewhiskey that he held in his hands, feeling the burning liquid go down his esophagus with grim satisfaction.

He sat in a dirty pub, aptly named the Hog's Head, slumped in his seat at the counter, uncouthly chugging down large mouthfuls of the burning liquid. He was trying to drink himself into oblivion. He wanted to erase the meeting that he'd had with his father, with copious amounts of the foul liquid; he was already on his fifth bottle and well on his way to achieving his goal.

When he raised his fingers for another bottle, having finished the last mouthful of his previous bottle, the old bartender, who had a frighteningly long, white beard, came over with a suspicious look in his beady, blue eyes.

"Eh boy, that's enough for you." the old man said, gently extracting the empty bottle from Scorpius's slick grip and vanishing it with a wave of his wand.

"No! You don' understan!" Scorpius began with a slur in his normally articulate voice, "I've gotta hav mor firewhisky! Look I'l pay you."

He staggered off the stool and shoved his hands in his pockets, fumbling around, trying to extract his pouch of galleons from his robes. He finally found his pouch and triumphantly waved it in the face of the unmoved bartender.

"Look boy, I don't want your money. Go home and sort your problems out. I don't want any trouble in my pub." The old man said, his arms firmly folded across his chest.

"Look _you_ don' understan!" Scorpius began, wildly waving his pouch in front of the bartenders face, "I've gotta have my firewhisky! Jus accept the damn money, old man!"

"Look boy, I didn't want to have to do this but you gave me no choice." the man grimly said, withdrawing his wand from his voluminous robes and swishing the wand at Scorpius.

With an ungraceful thump, Scorpius was dumped unceremoniously outside the door of the pub, the door slamming shut behind him.

Scorpius lay on his back, groaning, as pain pounded through his head and created a mocking tempo that matched the beating of his heart. _Thump, thump, thump_, the tempo hammered against his sore head.

He tried to ignore the pain and instead, listlessly stared at the midnight black sky, in which the stars were happily twinkling away, making a mockery of his pain. There was only one person that he wanted to see. The one person that would actually understand his pain and not mock him like the bloody stars were doing, at least he hoped not.

He shakily stood up, staggering as the pain in his head increased ten-fold. He really hoped that he wouldn't end up splinching himself, it would take forever to glue his body back together and it would be rather messy. The person he was going to visit would probably not be very sympathetic if Scorpius bled out on their "new, Puddlemere United rug".

He raised his wand in front of himself, concentrating with all might on his destination, with a silent pop, he disapparated, leaving behind the top of his pinky fingernail.

* * *

Rose was roused from her sleep with a flick of Hermione Weasley's wand.

"What happened?" Rose drowsily asked, trying to sit up from where she was lying on the ugly, orange sofa that her parents had bought at a flea market, in the living room. She gingerly moved her sore body, wincing as she felt pain shoot through her head as she moved it. She slowly moved her hand and touched the tender spot on her head that had started to swell.

Her parents concernedly hovered above her, not answering her question. After Rose repeated her question for the second time, her parents looked to each other and then her mother opened her mouth and then closed it again, only to repeat the process again. Her father gently squeezed her mother's hand before moving away from the sofa that Rose was residing on to look out the window, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Rose, you fainted and hit your head on the edge of the dining table when you fainted. Rose, what do you remember from before you fainted?" Her mother finally asked her.

"Fainted? I fainted?" Rose asked her mother bewilderedly.

"Yes Rose, your father and I were trying to..._explain_ some things to you and you fainted. Now, what do you remember from before you passed out?" Her mother delicately asked her, moving away from the couch and over to the window as well, trying to give Rose some space to breathe.

"I remember that you were trying to explain something to me...something about magic!" Rose finally said, wincing as her enthusiasm sent another lightning bolt of pain shooting through her head.

"Rose, we were trying to explain to you that magic is real." Her mother softly told Rose, turning away from the window when she heard Rose say magic, trying not to startle her.

"I remember...the dinner plate! It was...floating and...you were...you were controlling it, with a stick!" Rose finally deduced, her eyes widening as pieces of her memory jest before she passed out pointing at her mother when she mentioned the stick.

"Rose that was real. Magic is real. Your father and I both have the capacity to perform magic. I am witch and your father is a wizard. The stick you saw me holding is called a wand. All witches and wizards have wands that they use to perform magic. What you saw me do in the dining room was perform a simple charm to make the dinner plate float." Her mother calmly said, not batting an eyelash as Rose stared at her uncomprehendingly for a few seconds.

Finally Rose blurted the first thing that came to her mind, trying to comprehend the overload of information that her mother had rather unceremoniously dumped on her, "Magic is real and you and Dad can perform it?"

"Yes, sweetheart, that is true." Her mother responded wryly, rubbing a hand across her face in a tired manner.

"Prove it." Rose stubbornly responded, her face set in a determined expression, daring her mother to contradict her.

After taking a moment to take in Rose's expression, her mother curtly responded, "Fine."

Ron Weasley turned around from the window when he heard the brusque tone that Rose used on her mother, briefly frowned at her and then looked towards her mother.

Hermione Weasley raised her stick, _wand,_ Rose reminded herself skeptically, pointed it at a cozy, black armchair, swished her wand in a precise manner, and muttered, 'Colovaria_'. _Instantly, the color of the armchair changed from black to a shocking orange colour, which closely resembled the hair color of one Ron Weasley.

Rose looked at the armchair and then back to her mother, her mouth open in an ungraceful show of surprise.

"Wha-how-" Rose started and then with a sharp click, closed her jaw, trying to breathe through her nose. She put her head between her knees and tried to gulp in large mouthfuls of air. Instantly her parents were at her side. Her mother instantly handed her a paper bag.

'_Where had she gotten that from_?' Rose wondered dazedly.

Rose quickly took the offered bag, put it in between her legs and shoved her head in the bag. She quickly took in large mouthfuls of air through her nose, trying not to hyperventilate or faint again.

'_God, this is surreal!_" She thought with a mental shake of her head. Her parents were _witches _and_ wizards! _Her law-abiding, no-nonsense mother was some kind of closeted hippie/magic believer, who had clearly rigged the furniture and used some kind of invisible string to make the dinner plate look like it was floating; because dinner plates _did not_ float and furniture _did not_ change colours. '_Magic indeed_' she thought with a mental snort. Magic was not real, it couldn't be real, could it?

Slowly Rose's breathing evened out and she was able to breathe normally without the use of the paper bag. When she slowly regained her bearings she noticed that someone's hand was on her back, rubbing soothing circles. She slowly pulled her head out of the paper bag and looked up to see her mother pacing worriedly in front of her. Rose turned her head in surprise to see that her father was the one rubbing the soothing circles on her back as he worriedly watched her mother pacing. It was surprising to see her father rubbing her back soothingly, he wasn't a very emotional person, according to her mother he had the 'emotional range of a tea spoon'. It felt good though, to realize that he did feel some iota of care for her.

Her father continued to rub her back, while her mother stopped her pacing and finally looked at Rose, who sat as still as possible, trying not to move and scare her father off. Hey, it wasn't her fault that she craved the comforting touch of her father, which had been exceedingly rare when she younger and had become nonexistent as she became older.

"Rose do you understand what I said to you earlier?" Her mother finally said, breaking the silence. Rose silently cursed her mother, as her father immediately drew back his hand when he noticed that Rose was sitting up again. '_Bloody hell! The woman couldn't just let her enjoy the feeling of being cared for by her father for one second longer?' _Rose thought with a grimace.

"Yes, but I'm not sure that I believe you." Rose honestly told her mother, "I can't quite comprehend that magic is, indeed, real. How do I know that the floating dinner plate and colour changing furniture wasn't some cheap parlor trick?"

Her mother groaned in frustration when she heard those words falling from Rose's mouth.

"I wish you weren't so stubborn!" Her mother exasperatedly said, throwing up her hands in frustration.

"Quite like her mother!" quipped the wry voice of her father.

"Alright, if you don't believe me then perhaps, you can believe your eyes!" Her mother snapped in frustration.

She irritably snapped her stick to attention.

'S_he looked quite silly brandishing her stick' _Rose noted a bit distractedly, watching as her mother pointed her 'stick' at furniture in the room and started muttering words in that same language, similar to Latin.

Rose watched with growing fascination as the furniture that her mother pointed her 'magic stick' at, sprouted legs, fur, hands, teeth, and changed to extraordinary colors.

"Do you believe _this_?" Her mother sarcastically asked, pointing at the various array of furniture, which shuffled closer to Rose and her mother, watching them with curious interest.

Rose reached out a trembling hand to stroke the 'head' of an armchair, which had sprouted legs, ludicrous, burnt orange fur, and two bright eyes that watched her with curiosity.

"It's real?" Rose asked hesitantly, "It's all real? Magic is real?"

"Yes Rose, magic is real" Her mother quietly answered her, also reaching out to stroke the head of the complacent armchair.

* * *

Scorpius apparated with a quiet pop into the living room of his former best mate. He cursed as he felt a quick, sharp pain in his pinky finger and peered at his left hand, trying to examine the wound in the dim moonlight that filtered through the window.

So engrossed was he in examining his superficial wound that he didn't realize that someone had crept up behind him, until he felt someone's cool breath on the back of his neck. He quickly turned around, an apology for coming unannounced swiftly dying on his lips as his benefactor swung the beaters bat that he held in his hands at Scorpius's unprotected head, meeting his goal with swift precision. The beaters bat hit Scorpius's defenseless skull with a sharp crack; Scorpius stayed standing up for one moment, staring with wide eyes at his former best friend's pale and white face, before he fell over with a thud.

His former best friend stared in shock at the immobile body of Scorpius lying on the floor, his blood seeping out of the shattered skull, seemingly stark black against the formerly coveted Puddlemere rug.

"Oh Merlin! Oh no! What have I DONE?!" His former best friend fell rather dramatically to his knees and reached out one trembling hand to touch the side of Scorpius's head. His fingers came away with bright, red, crimson blood.

"We have to get you to St. Mungo's. I really hope Aunt Hermione is on call tonight. Merlin, Lily's going to kill me!" His former best friend rambled on, seemingly talking to himself in shock.

"Ok, snap out of it Albus! You need to get Scorpius to St. Mungo's first and then you can deal with Lilly and her psychotic tendencies." He said to himself, trying to snap his brain into action.

He quickly gathered up the broken body of Scorpius, wincing as he heard something crack. He staggered to his feet, trying to hold Scorpius's heavy body, while Scorpius's blood fell down his shirt and dripped onto his formerly beloved carpet. He quickly grabbed his wand from where it was uselessly resting on his couch and apparated to St. Mungo's, almost falling as the sensation of apparating and the bitter and coppery scent of Scorpius's blood overwhelmed his senses.

He looked quite a fright, apparating into the quiet lobby of St. Mungo's with the blood of his former best friend pooling around his feet. The receptionist looked up at his arrival in shock and then immediately snapped to attention, grabbing her wand and sending her silvery patronus racing down the hall to summon Healers.

She unceremoniously grabbed Scorpius's body from his tight grip and lowered it to the now slick ground; slick from the blood still pouring out of the unfortunate blonde's head. She waved her wand over him, muttering healing spells under her breath as she tried to stop the unrelenting gusher of blood. After just a few seconds she exhaled in relief and lowered her wand, having successfully stopped the flow of precious blood leaving Scorpius's body. A few seconds later, a team of Healers flowed into the room, rushing to Scorpius's side. Albus Potter was effectively shoved aside as the team of Healers surrounded the broken body of his best friend and muttered various healing spells over his comatose body.

Albus ran a trembling hand through his hair, not realizing that he still had the blood of Scorpius on his hands, the blood on his fingers transferring from his hands to his unruly, black hair.

"I have to floo Aunt Hermione, she might be able to do something." He absentmindedly said to himself, "Then I should floo Scorpius's parents."

"Oh Merlin, they're going to kill me!" He quietly whimpered to himself, anticipating the verbal abuse he would be getting from his parents as well as Scorpius's parents, not to mention the physical abuse he would get from his psychotic little sister. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Slowly the whole story was painstakingly drawn out from her parents reluctant lips. Her mother did most of the talking, desperately trying to explain the bizarre story to a bewildered Rose.

Hermione started at the beginning, explaining the concept of magic, the kind of spells that could be performed, and then moved on to a brief history of magic, talking about Merlin and the four founders of Hogwarts. Rose learned that the prestigious boarding school that she had thought her brother had attended was actually a prestigious boarding school that taught magic. Her mother continued talking, telling her about World War II and the role that magic played in it, then she talked about the rise and fall of Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort. Rose listened with growing horror and fascination as her mother talked about her schooldays and the outrageously dangerous things that she had done with her two best friends, Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived and Ron Weasley, her future spouse. Her voice grew hoarse and quiet as she started talking about the second Wizarding War. Her eyes became wet as she described the final battle and the casualties that had occurred. Finally Hermione stopped, her voice breaking off as she ended, describing her wedding and the subsequent birth of one Rose Weasley.

Her father, who had stayed mostly silent through the exchange of information, only piping up now and then to elaborate on a point or add details, now spoke up, picking up the threads of the story.

"We were so happy. The war had ended, we were married, had a stable job, wonderful family and friends, in fact we lived across the street from your Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. It was all so perfect. The hurt was still there, the wounds of the war could never be fully closed, but a fresh start helped." Ron said, sitting on the sofa in front of Rose, his hands clasped in front of his body, his weary eyes flickering between Rose and Hermione.

"We were ecstatic when we found out that Hermione was pregnant and then you came. A little, tiny mite of a baby, barely weighing one and a half kilograms. You came two months early and we were so relieved that you were delivered safely. They kept you in an incubator for the first few weeks and then you finally came home with us." He said, with a small smile on his face as he said the last sentence.

"You were such a stubborn baby. You didn't like to cry but at the same time you rejected everything we tried to give you. You widened your bright blue eyes whenever you saw us, as if trying to silently communicate with us what you wanted." His smile grew tender as he described Rose as a baby.

Rose smiled at the look on his face. It was _nice_, touching even, to see her normally goofy father, who had seemingly never paid very much attention to her, talk like he actually cared about her.

"We were finally happy, you were growing up well, you were healthy, and you had found a playmate in your cousin Albus, who was born just a few months after you. Then our happiness was shattered by the most inconsequential thing. We first noticed it, or the lack of it, when you were just twenty-one months old." His face darkened and his smile disappeared as he continued talking.

Rose felt a deep foreboding as he continued talking.

"Albus had already started showing his first signs of magic. He could make his toys fly around in circles or summon his favorite juice when he was fussy. We started noticing that you didn't show any signs of magic. At first we just laughed it off and told your grandparents and whoever else asked that it was just a developmental thing and that you were just late showing the signs of magic, I mean, you were already so advanced in everything else, it was natural that you might take more time in manifesting your magic." He said, shrugging helplessly as he said the last sentence.

"The day that we found out the truth that shattered our world was Albus's third birthday." Ron said, his face turning grim and hard.

000

_The Burrow, 2009_

_Albus and Rose sat on the floor of the living room, covered in wrapping paper and swamped with various toys that Albus had received just a few hours ago, playing with the toys. Ron and Hermione Weasley sat together on one sofa, Hugo's nine month old sleeping form nestled between them on the sofa, while Molly Weasley sat on the armchair across from them. All of the adults were basking in the semi-quiet moment. Everyone else had already left and Harry and Ginny Potter were upstairs putting James and Lily to bed.  
_

_Albus made whooshing noises with his mouth as he pushed around his new train set and within a blink of the eye he had changed the color of his train set from red to green, displaying the normal signs of the first manifestation of accidental magic in young children. _

_Molly Weasley's contented face became worried when she saw that display of magic. She hesitantly turned to the drowsy looking Ron and Hermione and asked them the question that had been burning in her mind ever since Albus had started displaying signs of magic and Rose had not. _

_"Have you had Rose tested by a Healer and had her magic checked?" She asked the sleepy looking couple._

_Instantly both of them were awake and strained lines appeared on their faces. Hermione Weasley loudly exhaled and answered Molly's question with a sigh._

_"No, not yet, we were hoping that she might display signs of magic before then, but we are going to make the appointment soon if she doesn't." She said, her eyes gaining a weary look._

_"I hope that she does show signs of magic, but you need to think about what you are going to do if she doesn't show signs of magic. How will you live? What education will you give her? Have you thought about that at all?" Molly worriedly asked her son and daughter-in-law._

_"No mum, we haven't really thought that far ahead, but we were hoping that everything will be ok and Rose does display signs of magic soon." Ron answered her._

_"I hope so son. I really hope so." Molly quietly answered him._

000

_St. Mungo's, one month later_

_"It can't be true...You must have done the test wrong! THere is NO WAY-" Ron Weasley stood, his stance defensive, shouting at the top of his lungs at a cowering Healer_ _on the fourth floor of the Spell Damage ward in St. Mungo's Hospital._

_"Ron, STOP!" Hermione cut him off, standing protectively in front of a tear-stained Rose Weasley, who was desperately clutching a small teddy bear, "You're scaring Rose, let's think about this calmly."_

_She turned to the Healer, who looked back at her with wide eyes.__"Are you absolutely sure that the sure that the test results are correct? Is there any inkling of a doubt?" She asked him, looking at him expectantly, her eyes wide with desperation, her mouth pressed in a thin, firm line. _

_"I'm deeply sorry Ma'am, but the tests results are a 100% conclusive. We have never had faulty test results for this type of testing. I'm sorry, but your daughter does not have a magical core, she's a squib."_

_A broken sob choked out from Hermione's lips when she heard those fatal words fall out of Healer's lips. She fell to the floor, cradling her head in her hands, loud, broken sobs forcing themselves out of her thin frame. _

_Ron Weasley looked unsurely at the spirit-broken form of his wife for one desperately sad moment and then hesitantly joined her on the floor, wrapping his arms around her frame and cradling her against him as she continued weeping._

_Rose Weasley looked at the broken forms of her normally strong and stable parents in __bewilderment, still clutching her teddy bear in one limp hand and standing at the side of the hospital room. Hesitantly she moved to the forms of her parents and knelt beside them._

_"Mommy, Daddy, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with me?" Rose's overly inquisitive voice asked. _

_"NO, no sweetie, there's n-nothing wrong with you." Hermione Weasley tried to firmly tell her daughter, raising her head from the shoulder of of her husband, desperately trying to stem her tears,__"You are perfect just the way you are..." _

000

"It was hard to learn that our only daughter was a squib. You have to understand that I, as a pureblood, (someone who has two magical parents) had never really had any contact with the muggle world, besides Hermione of course." Her father continued speaking.

"We didn't know what we were going to do with you. Should we be completely honest with you and let you know about magic or should we somehow hide the truth from you? We eventually chose the second option. We had to..." Her father tried to continue speaking, but words seemed to fail him and he trailed off.

"You see, we didn't want you to grow up in a world where you were always looked down on. I had more than enough experience with _that_." Her mother said bitterly, picking up the threads of the story.

"We told our friends and family about our decision to separate our family from the magical world to protect you from the prejudice found there. Unfortunately not all of our family and friends understood our desire and were adamantly outspoken against our decision, especially Molly and other members of the Weasley clan. They wanted the best for you as well, but they didn't agree with our choice." Her mother sadly said.

"We went ahead with the decision anyway and bought a home in a muggle neighborhood, relocated our family there and cut off most contact with the wizarding world, except for our immediate family. We kept our jobs in the wizarding world, we didn't really have the skills required to get a good, stable job in the muggle world." Hermione Weasley articulated.

"Everything was well for a year or so. We had successfully relocated, you were adjusting well and had started attending a muggle preschool, and we were able to, for the most part, successfully integrate ourselves into the muggle world. Then Hugo started showing his first signs of magic at eighteen months old. We had another family crisis at our hands. It brought up the question, again, of whether we should tell you and Hugo about magic. It seemed impossible that we could continue living as muggles with the both of you not knowing about magic, if we had a child who could actually perform magic." She continued the threads of the unbelievable tale.

"We decided to continue on as best as we could. We covered up any accidental magic that Hugo showed as well as we could. We became rather successful at it too. Hugo eventually found out about the wizarding world and magic when he was five when he turned the wig of his least favorite teacher blue." Her mother softly laughed at the memory of Hugo's expression when he had found out about magic.

"He was so excited, he immediately wanted to tell you but we persuaded him not to. It was almost relief to tell him. Over the years, whenever he had a fight with you, he wanted to shout out the truth, but he never did because we bribed him with sweets and attention." Her mother said woodenly.

"We eventually came to terms with everything that we had done for your sake and stuffed the guilt that was eating at our hearts away. When I found out about the schools you were looking up I was adamantly against it because I didn't want to lose you, but Ron convinced me that it was for the best." Her mother ashamedly said.

"You had lost me long before then Mum." Rose said quietly, having stayed uncharacteristically silent as she listened to her parent's account of the truth, "So you decided to tell him about magic but you didn't tell me? I can understand what you were trying to do, but pretending that something doesn't exist doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. I just have one question for you. Why did you decide to tell me now? You could have kept it a secret from me forever."

Her mother registered her words with a hurt expression, but answered her question, "There were several reasons. First, when you told me about your dreams, I figured that you were having nightmares that were uncannily similar to the truth of what happened during the war. I knew that magic had to be involved in some way. Second, on the taxi ride over here, you told me about your new boyfriend, which got me thinking about your future. What would happen when you had kids and they were magical?"

"Boyfriend? What boyfriend?" Her father quickly asked her, his eyebrows furrowing.

"So, you would have never told me otherwise." Rose softly whispered, ignoring her father's question, her words, were unfortunately picked up by her parents ears, "This is a lot to think about for one day. I think I'm going to bed. Good night."

"That's probably a good idea, we'll talk more about this in the morning. Good night." Her mother quickly said, standing to her feet and stretching.

Rose got to her feet, stretching her sore muscles languidly, she winced at the pain that immediately flared up in her skull and reached out a hand to rub her tender skull. She slowly shook her head at the crazy things that she had learned today. She needed to sleep and then think about this tomorrow. She slowly walked through the living room and up the stairs. She walked into her childhood room and slipped under the covers of her comfy bed, falling asleep before her head hit the pillow.

The fireplace in the living room lit up with an eerie green glow, accompanied by the soft _ding _of a bell, which halted the quiet murmurs of the voices of Hermione and Ron Weasley. They both turned to the fireplace expectantly and the head of a figure outlined in green appeared in the flames.

The outline of the figure opened his mouth and spoke in a harried and rushed manner, his words immediately causing Hermione to leap to her feet.

"Aunt Hermione! I need your help, Scorpius was in an accident. He doesn't look too good, can you come see him?" Albus Potter quickly said, looking expectantly at the figure of his favorite Aunt.

"Oh no! Of course I'll come, I'll be there in a second, let me just grab my Healer's robe." Hermione quickly said, her face morphing into an expression of concern.

Hermione rushed out of the living room and rushed back in a minute later, dressed in her Healer's robe. She turned to her husband and quickly gave him a peck on the lips.

"I'll be back soon, look after Rose, ok?" She hurriedly said to her husband.

He nodded his head in agreement and watched as his wife took a pinch of powder from a container on the mantle and threw it in the fireplace, before yelling "St. Mungo's Hospital!", stepping through the fireplace and whooshing away in a vortex of green flames.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. Please remember to review! Oh, if anyone gets the pun that I used in the "Encounters at the airport" chapter of this story, in relation to the title of the story, PM me. Lastly a shout out to No.1HPfanLuvsHP, pescibar, missjess15, and the guest who said, "This is absolutely amazing", thanks for reviewing!**


	5. Meeting the Devil

**Warning: Swearing.**

Scorpius could hear low voices that seemed to get louder as he was roused from his deep sleep. He could feel light through his closed eyelids and the voices seemed familiar. Scorpius slowly raised his tender head from the soft pillow that it was resting on and opened his heavy eyelids. His vision was blurry and he had to blink a few times to clear it. The sight that greeted him was surprising and amusing. A slow smile curved on his face as he realized that he would have perfect blackmail material against his (hopefully) best friend.

Albus Potter was sitting on a chair, his head bowed, his hands covering his blotchy face, silent tears dripping down his face.

Scorpius took in the distraught face of his best friend and silently started laughing. A snort of laughter escaped his nose and Albus quickly looked up, shock written on his tear-stained face.

"YOU! You-you are so STUPID! Why the HELL would you show up in the middle of the night in my living room, when we haven't talked in over nine months?! Albus yelled at him, getting to his feet and standing over the bed of Scorpius, trying to look menacing.

Scorpius took in his red face and balled up fists and started laughing harder.

"What the HELL is WRONG with YOU?! Why are you LAUGHING? Y-you seriously don't know how much you scared me! You are a fucking idiot!" Albus continued yelling at him, looking bewildered and angry at the fact that Scorpius was still laughing.

Scorpius finally stopped laughing and said in a rather amused voice, "Shouldn't _I_ be the one yelling at _you_? After all, _you_ were the one that conked me out."

"N-well yeah, um, sorry about that." Albus said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It's cool mate, besides, now we're friends again and I've got great blackmail material against you. Who woulda thunk it? The great Albus Potter _crying_, at the bedside of Scorpius Malfoy." Scorpius said, laughing at the expression that Albus wore on his face.

Albus looked like he was going to either cry or laugh. In the end , he did neither. He gave Scorpius a disgusted look and then turned away from him, sitting back in the chair, glaring at the wall beside Scorpius's head.

"Come on mate, I thought we were friends?" Scorpius implored Albus.

"_I_ thought we were friends too, of course, that was before you decided to break my little sister's heart and move away from England for nine months, without telling me." Albus snapped, glaring at Scorpius, his hands folded across his body.

Scorpius sighed at that and ran an exasperated hand through his hair, "Look you don't understand, you don't know the whole story."

"Then tell me the whole fucking story! Seriously, you and Lily are both the same, you're both so freaking dramatic!" Albus screamed, getting up again from his perch on the chair and glaring with his baleful green eyes at Scorpius.

"Look, I can't tell you! I don't want you to think badly of Lily." Scorpius said frustratedly.

"Scorpius, I know that Lily can be a stupid bint sometimes, whatever you tell me is not going to kill me." Albus said wryly, sitting back down in his chair with a thud.

"I-she cheated on me with the coach of the Holyhead Harpies, Cormac McLaggen,", Scorpius said in a rush, "that's how she got her position as a seeker."

"Wow, that's...something that I would have expected from her." Albus said, stunned, "She has been acting like a freaking idiot since she came back from her graduation trip to Spain. Why didn't you tell me? Honestly I would have believed you, taking into account all the stupid things she's done in the past year, this is practically nothing."

"What do you mean 'all the stupid things she's done in the the past year'?" Scorpius asked him, his interest piqued.

"Well, just this past year, she was caught with wizarding drugs in her Quidditch locker and subsequently banned from her Quidditch team, her picture was plastered on the front page of the _Daily Prophet, _drunk and naked, and she had recent falling out with Mum and Dad because they caught her with her boytoy, doing unsavory things on top of Dad's desk in the Ministry." Albus said with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Merlin, that's horrible." Scorpius said, looking grim, "Was this all after we broke up and I went way to Australia?"

"Yeah, it was, but don't blame yourself for it, she was acting crazy even when she was going out with you. After all she did spread that rumor around that you were cheating on her, which was apparently the reason why she broke up with you. I'm actually glad that you weren't pulled into all the drama that's happened since you left." Albus said tiredly.

"Still, I feel horrible about it. Maybe I should go talk to her." Scorpius said concernedly.

"NO, that's not a good idea. I-I kinda didn't tell Lily that you were in the hospital in the first place" Albus said abashedly.

"Good job Al, did you at least tell my parents?" Scorpius asked sarcastically, giving a tired grin to his reunited best friend.

"Yeah, I did, they came to see you soon after you were admitted to the hospital. They left just a little while ago, when they found out that your head wound wasn't serious."

"If my head wound wasn't serious, then why were you crying?" Scorpius asked Al curiously.

"Oh, um, I honestly thought you were going to murder me when you woke up and you're still my best mate even though you're a right idiot and showed up to my house drunk and-" Al rambled to Scorpius.

"Slow down mate, now that we're friends again, I forgive you and I figured we could catch up soon, after I take a nap of course." Scorpius said, cutting off Albus's rambling and grinning tiredly at his best mate.

"Oh, sorry about that, sure, I'll go home, change, get something to eat, and then I'll be back in an hour. See you." Al said, mollified, and then exited the room, giving Scorpius a small grin before he left.

Scorpius answered his grin with one of his own and then leaned back tiredly against the pillow, sliding his body down the bed until he rested comfortably against the mattress, falling asleep instantly.

* * *

Rose walked down the stairs and into the kitchen with a tired expression on her face just as the first signs of dawn started creeping through the midnight, black sky. A yawn split her face a she leaned tiredly against the refrigerator. It had been a long night. She hadn't been able to sleep properly and had woken up often. There were cricks in her neck and back and her body felt like it had been mauled. She'd had another nightmare. It had been drastically different from the previous nightmares, for one, her mother hadn't been in this one, someone else had. Someone with a head of silvery, blond hair. She hadn't been able to properly make out the features of the person but had been able to discern the fact that it was a male. The second distinguishable difference had been the fact that she and her companion had been able to escape their persistent pursuers.

_She was running through a forest, a forest of oak trees again. She was clutching a stick, the same stick that she had been holding in the previous nightmares. _

_"A 'wand'." she reminded herself. _

_Her heartbeat was racing, her breath was coming out in quick clouds and she could feel a slight, reassuring pressure on her left hand. She looked down at her hand, which was connected by the fingers to a large, calloused hand. __She raked her eyes up from the sight of the calloused hand to a finely muscled arm and the broad shoulders of a, presumably, handsome man. She continued raking her eyes past his broad shoulders to his face, which was blurred and indistinguishable, and then up past his face to his silvery, blond hair, which seemed vaguely familiar. The figure was wearing medieval type clothing, which consisted of a dark, black, robe-like cloth, similar to what her mother had been wearing in her previous nightmare. Rose still wore her comfy jeans and a light-sleeved shirt.  
_

_The figure was at least a foot taller than her, if not more, and was pulling her along like a rag doll, urging her to keep up in low, hurried whispers._

_The stitch in her side seemed to grow more prominent and her breath came out faster and her lungs were burning with need for oxygen and she couldn't go on any longer and... _

_Her companion had noticed that she had started lagging behind and he was practically dragging her at this point. He abruptly stopped running and veered to the side of the invisible path that they had been following, so that he was leaning against a giant oak tree, partially hidden under its branches. He pulled Rose close to him so that she was cradled against his chest, one of his arms protectively holding her close. Rose could feel his heartbeat pounding through his thin clothing, in harmony with the racing of her own heart. _

_He quickly pulled out a 'wand' from his robes and swished it in a complicated manner. Instantly, Rose felt like her body was roughly being squeezed through a narrow tube, the air was being painfully squeezed out of her lungs, the sensation felt never ending and just when Rose thought she couldn't take anymore, her lungs were free and she doubled over and started gulping large mouthfuls of air into her lungs.  
_

_When she finally had enough air to satisfy her greedy lungs, she looked up to find that she was no longer in the oak forest but was instead in a damp, dark alley. She looked around cautiously to see that her companion was leaning against the side of the alley, looking winded and also gulping large mouthfuls of air. He noticed her looking at him and gave her small smile, the only attribute that she could distinguish from his blurred features. _

_She smiled back at him and then took his hand, leading him out of the alley..._

Her nightmare had then ended and she had woken up covered in sweat and feeling a faint sense of loss. She hadn't been able to quite figure out what loss she felt except, perhaps, the loss of her mysterious companion, who had, for the first time, helped her escape her relentless pursuers. Compared to her previous nightmares, this one had been almost pleasant, at least she hadn't been tortured or seen someone she loved brutally murdered. She had tossed and turned the rest of the night, unable to fall back asleep.

Rose rested her tired head against the cool steel of the refrigerator, her body still propped up against the refrigerator, her eyes closed. She didn't really want to open her eyes and deal with the overload of information that her parents had dumped on her the night before. She hadn't even had time to properly reflect on the revelations that she had been told yesterday because she had been too busy trying to figure out who her blond companion in the nightmare was.

It was frightening to think of the things that her parents had told her. She couldn't wrap her head around it. Her parents were not the people that she had thought they were. Her mother was_ not_ Hermione Granger, a Doctor at a prestigious hospital, instead she was something called a _Healer_, who worked at a magical hospital called St. Mungo's. Her father was _not_ Ron Weasley, a Police Officer, who was part of the London police force, instead he was an _Auror_, who worked for the Ministry of Magic. Her brother wasn't even the person that she had thought he was. He was _not_ going to be a police officer but an Auror, who had no need to go to a University.

Rose felt like such a fool, she had no idea who these people were. These people that she had once called her family, were strangers now. They had a whole secret life that had no room for her. It was both touching and frustrating to discover that her parents did have some modus of care for her, after all they had given up part of their identity for her. But at the same time, it was frustrating because they had pushed her away when she had really needed them as a child.

Her head was pounding now, and she hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. Rose forcefully stuffed her unwelcome thoughts, pushed away from the refrigerator and started rustling through the cupboards to find something to eat. She found a bowl and some type of odd looking cereal in the cupboards and opened the refrigerator to find chocolate milk. She trooped over to the dining table with the chocolate milk, odd looking cereal, and bowl. She dumped everything she wanted to eat in the bowl and unceremoniously started shoving cereal in her mouth.

She immediately spat out the cereal with a disgruntled expression flitting across her face. When she had put the odd looking cereal in her mouth, it had started _fizzing_ in her mouth. As she continued spitting out the disgusting cereal, her father walked into the living room, raising a concerned eyebrow at Rose's antics.

"Are you ok there, Rose?" He asked quizzically.

"I'm-ugh-fine." Rose coughed out, "I just swallowed this _disgusting_ cereal!"

"Oh, you mean the new '_Fizzing Whizbee Cereal: now with added fizz'_?" Her father asked her.

"Yes, I think that's what's called." Rose said throwing a peeved expression at the cereal box and then looking up at her father, "Why are you up so early, it's Sunday?"

"I usually wake up early everyday, it's just habit now and besides I didn't sleep too well last night, your mother wasn't home." Ron said, yawning tiredly and slumping down beside her in a chair, "Why are you up so early?"

"I had another nightmare, so I couldn't sleep. What about Mum, why wasn't she home last night?" Rose questioned her father.

"Albus floo called just after you went upstairs to sleep and she was called away to St. Mungo's because there had been an accident with a friend of Al's, she came back early this morning and she's sleeping in." Ron told her, "Now, what about these nightmares of yours?"

"Oh, it's nothing much, they're just nightmares." Rose told him, trying to brush it off.

"Hmm." Her father said in a knowing manner, "Well after you finish your cereal, I suggest getting ready, you have a big day ahead of you!"

"What do you mean?" Rose asked her father suspiciously.

"Well, I thought we could go over to the Burrow and you could properly meet the rest of the family! Don't worry, your mother will be joining us later when she wakes up!" Ron said cheerily, oblivious to the horrified expression on Rose's face.

"Um, well-" Rose tried to gently decline, but her father's excited expression quelled any opposition she had.

She gave him a small, unenthusiastic smile and then took the rest of her uneaten cereal and dumped it in the trash, her stomach cramping painfully in protest because she hadn't actually eaten any breakfast. Rose finished putting the cereal box in the cupboard and the chocolate milk in the refrigerator and then lackadaisically trooped up the stairs.

_'I would rather spend the day here, getting to know more about magic, not spending the day with family members I don't even like!' Rose thought murderously, 'I hope Lily's not there, she can be such a bitch and I don't need her condescending comments about my fashion sense and everything else I do! This better be short visit!'_

Alas for poor, unsuspecting Rose, this was not to be.

* * *

The next time that Scorpius woke up, he was unpleasantly surprised to see his parents at his bedside. His mother was sitting in the same chair that Al had been previously occupying and his father was pacing by the window.

As Scorpius made to sit up, his bedclothes made a small rustling noise and both of his parents were instantly alert and at his side.

"How are you doing Scor?" His mother asked tenderly, worry clouding her normally bright, green eyes.

"I'm feeling better." Scorpius croaked out, "Can I have some water?"

"Of course dear!" Astoria said, handing him the glass of water that had been resting by his bedside, her relief palpable that he had not severely hurt.

Scorpius gratefully chugged down the glass of water and then put it down with a sigh, to look up and see both of his parents watching him with a critical look in their eyes.

After uncomfortably staring at Scorpius for a few moments, his father finally cleared his throat and asked him the question that he had clearly been dying to ask, "Scorpius, do you remember our discussion before the accident occurred?"

Scorpius audibly groaned at the question and then rolled his eyes._ 'This was the real reason for their visit.' He thought with a grimace. _

"Yes, Father, I remember our unpleasant discussion, before the accident." Scorpius grumbled at his father, "I distinctly remember you telling me that you were going to bound me up in chains and throw me to the fishes."

"Scorpius!" His mother admonished, as Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Scorpius, seriously, this is not a laughing matter, you have to start acting responsibly." His father scolded him, "You are poised to take over the Malfoy business in just under six months, you have to start acting like an adult!"

Scorpius just glared balefully at his father after he finished delivering his impassioned speech, "Believe me, I'm not laughing. I would rather be crying right now." He finally muttered, "I still don't understand why you can't continue being the head of Malfoy Industries, it's not like you are too old to do so."

"Scorpius...", His father sighed exasperatedly, "I understand that you don't want to take over the responsibilities of Malfoy Industries, but this is a critical period! The investors are all clamoring for change. Ever since the Ministry passed that new law, which makes it almost impossible for ex-Death Eaters to retain a job, I've been pressured to give up my job by the investors. Either you take over as head of Malfoy Industries or a Ministry appointed buffoon will automatically get the job."

Scorpius exhaled agitatedly, "I understand, I just don't want to take over as head of Malfoy Industries, isn't there anyone else who can take the job besides me?"

"Not unless you want to give the job to someone who will make off with all of our assets in Malfoy Industries and then send us a mocking postcard a few months later." Draco Malfoy said sarcastically, leaning back against the door frame, his hands tucked in his pockets.

"Honey, don't worry about anything right now, except getting better, we can worry about that later." Astoria told him soothingly, brushing his arm in a calming manner, "Besides, we have some very exciting news to tell you!"

"News? What news?", Scorpius asked his mother interestedly, watching as his father shifted against the door frame guiltily.

"This was the original reason we asked you to come back to England, Scor." His mother said excitedly, her face illuminating into a bright smile.

"Astoria, maybe we should wait to tell Scorpius until Christmas dinner with Father and Mother." Draco said, pointedly not looking at Scorpius and shuffling his feet on the ground.

"Oh, maybe you're right honey. Sorry Scor, looks like you'll just have to wait a few days to find out." His mother told him, her expression gaining a mischievous air.

"Hmm.", Scorpius said suspiciously, his eyes flitting between the happy face of his mother and the guilty expression on his father's face, "When will I be released from the hospital, anyway?"

"You'll be released later this afternoon. Oh, your friend Al told us to tell you that you're invited to Sunday dinner at the Burrow, this evening." His mother told him happily.

"You don't have to mingle with that boy and those people Scorpius if you don't want to, besides I thought you and Albus were not speaking anymore, what happened?" His father asked him questioningly, his face twisting into a sneer when he said 'those people'.

"We made up and of course I'll go to Sunday Dinner, Mrs. Weasley makes the best roast ever." Scorpius said, his eyes turning glassy as he envisioned the mouth watering sight of Mrs. Weasley's roast chicken.

"Hmph." His father sniffed disapprovingly, "I don't understand how you can still be friends with that boy, he clobbered you over the head with a beaters bat!"

"Well, I did show up in his living room absolutely smashed, and I hadn't seen him in over nine months, so I guess I can understand why he was a little surprised." Scorpius said shrugging.

"Well, alright then honey. You need to rest before you're released, so we'll just be on our way." His mother told him, ruffling his hair good naturedly before standing up and moving to the door.

"Goodbye, Scorpius. We'll be back later, when it's time for you to be released." His father said, pushing away from the doorframe and nodding his head at Scorpius.

"Bye, Mother, Father." Scorpius said, inclining his head to both of them as they exited his room.

Scorpius leaned back against the pillows comfortably and went back to envisioning the taste of the heavenly roast that he would most certainly be eating this evening.

* * *

Rose smiled uncomfortably at her many red-headed family members as they all stared at her. She was seated in an armchair in the living room of the Burrow, her father sitting comfortably on a chair at her side, while the rest of her father's relatives milled around the room, crunching on snacks. Rose had been introduced to all of the family members that had been arriving throughout the day, unfortunately she couldn't remember the majority of their names. For the past few hours she had been sitting on the armchair, sipping her drink and answering awkward inquiries about her life in Australia, while her father sat beaming at her side, like a demented red-headed clown.

Rose and her father had arrived at the Burrow through the most horrible means of transportation, in Rose's opinion. They had both stood in front of the fireplace in their living room and her father had told her to take a pinch of green powder from a container on the mantle and throw it in the fireplace, while clearly saying 'The Burrow', before jumping into the green flames.

Rose had been rather horrified at that and absolutely refused to jump into a vortex of flames, green or not. Ron had to go through the fireplace twice to convince her that the flames wouldn't kill her and that he wasn't a demented psychopath, who wanted to kill Rose. She had finally agreed to do it, tightly squeezing her eyes shut as she had thrown her pinch of floo powder into the fireplace and yelled 'The Burrow', before stepping into the vortex of green flames. Needless to say, floo travel was uncomfortable and dirty. Rose had stumbled out of the fireplace at the Burrow hacking her lungs out and covered in soot, attracting the attention of the family members that had been sitting in the living room.

After her coughing had subsided, she had awkwardly stared at everyone in the room for a few moments before her father's gangly form had come hurtling out of the fireplace and smashed into her petite form. She had fallen rather spectacularly to the floor, pinned against the floor by the weight of her father's soot covered body.

Just as her father had gotten off her crushed form, apologizing profusely and offering her a hand to pull herself up, a blood, red pair of stilettos had appeared in her line of vision, accompanied by a snobbish voice.

"Well, well, don't you look just _darling, _covered in soot?" The voice of Lily Potter had drifted to Rose's ears, which were rapidly turning a _delightful_ shade of red.

Rose had frozen for a moment, her only coherent thought, _'Maybe if I pretend that she's not here, she'll disappear.'._

Unfortunately, Lily had not disappeared and Rose had to finally accept the waiting hand of her father, who hauled her to her feet.

Rose was met with the sight of the devil, or more accurately, the sight of a tall, slim, Lily Potter. She was dressed impeccably in red robes, which matched her choice of red shoe wear, as well as her red lipstick and red nail polish, which adorned her talons. Lily was holding a wineglass in one hand and wearing a sneering expression on her face. All in all, she looked like the epitome of a perfect guest.

Rose had taken in her appearance with a grimace on her face. She was sure that she looked like a cow compared to what Lily was wearing. Rose had worn comfortable clothing and was dressed in jeans, a nice top, and converse. Unfortunately the trip through the floo had ruined her previously acceptable clothing and she was covered head to toe in soot.

Ron, for some inexplicable reason, had brightened noticeably when he had noticed Lily standing in front of Rose and had proudly presented Rose to the still, sneering Lily. Rose's heart sank with dread when she realized the motivation for her father's smile at the sight of Lily. He had wanted Lily to show her around and introduce her to everyone else, because, in his words, 'they were almost the same age and were going to be best friends from now on!'.

Lily had raised a condescending eyebrow at that and taken in the sight of Rose's soot covered form pointedly, as if to nonverbally point out the fact that she would never be friends with someone who was covered in soot.

Rose's blush had spread from her ears to her face at that. Ron had finally noticed that Rose was still covered in soot and had whispered an incantation, simultaneously swishing his wand at her still form, vanishing the majority of the soot.

Lily had turned around then and Rose had to hop over furniture and knick-knacks as Lily stalked through the room, introducing Rose to members of their family at a breakneck speed.

After introducing her to the family members present in the living room, Lily had vanished without a trace and Rose was left standing in the middle of the living room, looking around with apprehensive eyes.

Ron had finally taken pity on her and he had showed her to the kitchen, where she had met her grandmother, Molly Weasley, who had immediately engulfed Rose in a bear hug and fussed over her thin form.

She had just awkwardly smiled and endured the fussing, until her mother had come through the kitchen door and saved her by giving her a quick hug and then sending her off to the living room with a drink.

Rose had been sitting in an armchair in the living room since then, nursing a drink and sending stiff smiles at anyone that approached her.

Ron had taken pity on her lonely form and joined her in the late afternoon, trying to draw her into a conversation with her Uncle Harry and Uncle George.

Rose had endured their polite attempts at making conversation, before she had politely asked to be excused. She had gotten off the armchair and quickly escaped to the outside of the Burrow, gratefully taking in large mouthfuls of fresh air.

_'Ugh, I hate Lily so much!' She thought with a grimace. _

Lily had been the main reason that she hadn't seen her parents in over two years, since Hugo's birthday party. She had been having a relatively good time at Hugo's party. She had been mingling relatively well with people there, until Lily had shown up. Lily had immediately started making barbed comments about everything from Rose's less than immaculate appearance, to the fact that she wasn't close with her parents. The fight had ended with Rose climbing out of the swimming pool, covered in blue frosting and feathers. She hadn't exactly been sure where the feathers had come from at the time, but now she realized that Lily must have used magic during their impromptu fight to conjure them and make them stick to Rose.

Rose gritted her teeth at her unpleasant thoughts and turned to go back inside. Her expression turned into a scowl as she saw Lily in the entrance of the Burrow, draped around the body of a blonde male. Rose made to go around them and unintentionally bumped into the blonde male.

"Oh, sorry!" She said, turning around to issue her apology, her eyes opening wide in surprise as she realized who she had bumped into.

Perhaps she should have stayed home today, after all.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to all the people that reviewed: sahkat, Guest, who said "This story is so flipping awesome.", Weaselredhair, No.1HPfanLuvsHP, and Viola117.  
**


	6. Drama During Dinner

"Red? What are you doing here?" Scorpius questioningly asked, surprise etched on his face. He quickly detached himself from the clingy figure of Lily Potter and turned to face the woman who had bumped into him.

"Me, what are you doing here?" The red-head asked in surprise, her nose crinkling in disgust.

'_What was she doing here?' Scorpius thought in astonishment, his face screwed up in comical bewilderment, 'She was a muggle, at least he had thought she was a muggle. What was she doing here in the Weasley household?'_

"I was invited and-You have my jacket!" He said accusingly, pointing at her in anger.

"N-Oh, yes, um, I do have your jacket. I forgot to give it back to you after we departed the plane. I don't have it right now, just tell me where to drop it off, and I'll give it to back to you soon." She said sheepishly, her face morphing from surprise and disgust to mortification in an instant. She nervously twisted her hands together in front of her body as Scorpius advanced towards her.

"No! I need my jacket back now!" He said angrily, his voice rising a few decibels as his temper got the better of him. He stood close to her, towering over her small form, his fists clenched in anger and his eyes a stormy gray, the colour of a brewing thunderstorm.

"LOOK-" The red-head began heatedly, her face turning a bright shade of magenta in response to his tone of voice, her hair crackling ominously and her body automatically shifting closer to Scorpius's.

Lily Potter, who had been watching their argument with questioning eyes from the sidelines, suddenly held up one hand and barked out the question that would determine their fate, "Wait, do you two know each other?"

"We met at the airport." Scorpius said disgruntledly, glaring at Rose.

Just as Rose was about to supplement Scorpius's answer, her mother, who had been attracted to the entrance by their loud voices and had heard their loud argument about a jacket, appeared at her side and nosily interrupted Rose's reply.

"Wait, what jacket are you two fighting about? Rose, is that the jacket that you brought home yesterday? The jacket that you said was your boyfriend's?" Her mother asked suspiciously, looking questioningly between the two of them, her hands on her hips, her legs firmly planted on the ground.

"Uh-um," Rose stuttered in embarrassment,"Yes! This is my, um, boyfriend!" she finally stammered out unconvincingly, her eyes shifting to look at the incredulous faces of Lily and the blonde-haired menace, as well as the disbelieving face of her mother.

"Yes, um, we met at the airport in Sydney and we really hit it off." Rose said cagily, looking at the blonde menace and pleading him silently with her eyes to go along with the farce for now. He stared back at her stormily for a few moments, his hands crossed against his chest and then finally conceded, his eyes softening and then turning gleeful in an instant.

"Yes, Red-I mean-Rose and I really bonded in the airport over our love of traveling." He said, his stony face relaxing into an arrogant smirk. He moved closer to Rose and rather conspicuously put one hand across her waist, pulling her to his side.

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense," Lily immediately protested, her face scrunching into a scowl as she looked at their joined bodies, "You two were just arguing about a jacket. You certainly didn't look too chummy, quite the opposite in fact."

"Well, I was just surprised to see Rose here, I didn't expect her to be in England." Scorpius said smugly, his smile turning vindictive as he took in Lily's discontented expression. He squeezed Rose tightly and pulled her closer to his body, effectively squashing her face into his side.

"But you just said you met in the airport in Sydney." Hermione Weasley said dubiously, "How could you not know that Rose wasn't going to England if you two just met at the airport?"

"Oh, silly me," Scorpius spoke condescendingly, waving his free hand in exaggerated exasperation, "I meant that we met at the airport in Sydney when I first arrived in Sydney, nine months ago. Rose was there to receive her friend and I had just arrived in Sydney from England."

Hermione and Lily both looked skeptically at them, clearly not believing their unconvincing tale.

"Well, I suppose we can discuss this later, right now we need to go inside and have dinner." Hermione reluctantly said, ushering all of them inside. She looked over at Rose and narrowed her Rose, her expression clearly conveying that she and Rose would be having a talk later.

Scorpius, who was still clutching Rose to his side, enthusiastically trooped inside, muttering in a low voice so that only Rose could hear, "We need to have a _chat_ after dinner, for right now, sit next to me."

Rose minutely nodded, unable to speak because her airways were constricted by the material of his jumper. He looked down at her when she didn't respond to him and then noticed that he was unintentionally cutting off her air supply. He abruptly released her and watched Rose with a cocked eyebrow as she stumbled for a second, before doubling over and clutching her knees as she fervently gulping large mouthfuls of air into her oxygen-deprived lungs.

_'The idiot had been slowly choking her to death and she hadn't even been able to say anything because she hadn't wanted to interrupt the lies that he had been spouting off.' She thought murderously, glaring up at the idiot in question, 'At least he had went along with her lies and actually supplemented them with his own fabrications. He was, in fact, a better liar than she was, at any rate. Still, she didn't think their lies had actually convinced Lily and her mother that they were dating.'_

She was pulled out of her musing by the blond-haired menace as he forcefully took her by the elbow and steered her towards the dining table.

The dining table had been enlarged to fit the whole Weasley and Potter clan, as well as Scorpius. Everyone looked up at them in surprise as they both sat down together near one end of the table, with Rose sitting next to a messy, black-haired man, who questioningly looked at Scorpius in regards to their seating arrangements.

To Rose's disgust, Lily immediately sat down across from Scorpius and gave him a sickly sweet smile, and then turned to Rose and gave her a rather ferocious scowl that made Rose bristle in annoyance.

The black-haired man seemed to sense the tension that occupied their little corner of the table and his gaze nervously flitted between the impassive face of Scorpius, the clenched jaw and stony face of Rose, and the glowering face of Lily. He tensely cleared his throat and then leaned across Rose to talk to Scorpius and declared in an overly loud and cheerful voice, "So, how do you think the chances are of Puddlemere winning against the Canons this year?"

"Oh please! Al, the chances of the Canons winning this year are practically nonexistent, just like every other year for the past two hundred years. Puddlemere is going to flatten the Canons." Scorpius said in a confident voice, also leaning across Rose to talk to Al, while waving his hands dismissively and deliberately ignoring Lily.

The conversation between them abruptly stopped as food appeared on the table and people started digging in. Scorpius and the black-haired man, who was apparently Al, her cousin, started animatedly talking about a magical sport called Quidditch, frequently leaning across Rose's body to talk to each other. Rose sat tensely between the two of them, her elbows tucked uncomfortably into her sides, while she tried to eat her food without hitting one of their flailing hands as they made elaborate hand gestures.

After dinner, dessert was served and with it a side dish of Rose's _most_ favorite food, prying questions. Molly Weasley, the matriarch of the family, started the interrogation. She looked over at Rose from her seat at the other end of the table and smiled warmly at her. Rose, caught off guard by her smile, smiled back at her in response. This was apparently the signal she had been looking for because she quickly started in on Rose.

"So Rose, now that you know about the magical world, how are you doing?" Molly asked, smiling encouragingly at Rose.

"I'm doing well enough I suppose, its been quite a shock and I'm still trying to absorb everything." Rose said truthfully, sighing a bit at the end of her sentence, suddenly looking tired and worn.

"I understand dear, I'm sure it must have been overwhelming to learn about magic and the wizarding world. So, do you know where you are intending to move permanently in Britain now?" Molly asked sympathetically.

"Move?" Rose asked uncomprehendingly, looking over to where her parents sat to see their reactions. Her mother was frowning at Molly while her father's face was turned towards Rose, looking hopefully at her.

"I don't know what you mean. I'm not planning to move to Britain any time soon. In fact, I haven't thought about it at all. While learning about magic was certainly a shock, it doesn't mean that I'm going to suddenly drop my life in Australia and move to Britain. I have a stable job in Sydney. I'm still in medical school and my grandparents and friends live there." Rose said heatedly, warming up to the subject and realizing that what she was now telling Molly Weasley was true. She hadn't for a minute thought about moving or leaving behind her life in Australia. Magic was very different and nice but she had nothing to do with it. It wasn't like she could perform it.

"But what about your parents and the rest of your extended family?" Molly asked bewilderedly, looking quite confused at Rose's adamant denial to move to Britain.

"What about my parents?' Rose asked bemusedly, "I'm a grown woman and I've lived apart from my parents for ten years now. I'm sure that, since we have recently started bonding again, I'll come visit Britain more often but that's it. As for my extended family, no offense, but I don't know any of you particularly well, you weren't around very much during my childhood and the few gatherings we've spent together have usually ended in me storming out."

Rose looked around the table as she finished her monologue and looked at the shocked faces. Molly looked rather alarmed by Rose's answer, her mouth forming a silent 'o'. Her father looked like he had been sucker-punched by Rose, his mouth was hanging open and the ice cream that he'd been spooning into his mouth was melting on his spoon, dripping steadily to the table. Her mother didn't look much better, her face was frozen into a frigid expression, her mouth turned down in a frown. Everyone else at the table wore varying degrees of the same shocked and disappointed face, save for two. Lily and the blonde-haired menace. Lily looked like the cat who had caught the canary and wore a decidedly smug face, while the blonde looked contemplative and was staring at Rose thoughtfully.

"I-I think I need to leave, excuse me." Rose said suddenly, growing annoyed and angry as everyone at the table continued their silent charade. She threw down her napkin and quickly hurried towards the door, slamming it behind her.

* * *

Scorpius sat stunned as the red-head slammed the door behind her. He looked around at the table as everyone sat frozen. No one seemed like they were going to go after her. He turned to look at Al, who looked shocked like everyone else and Lily, who looked smug. He quickly made his decision and stood up.

"If you could please, excuse me." He said graciously, inclining his head towards Molly and Arthur, "The dinner was delicious as always Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, good night." He nodded his head at Al, who nodded back in understanding and left the table, hustling over to the coat rack, where he located his coat and slipped it on with fumbling fingers. He looked over to the table and saw as Ron Weasley made to get up and go after Rose as well, only to be stopped by the hand of Hermione Weasley who ignored his protests and pulled him back in his seat. As he was leaving he heard Lily's voice yelling something like "I'm going after Scorpius" to which Al, the good man, replied in a hiss, "Sit down Lily, he doesn't want to talk to you".

The rest of their conversation was cut off as he closed the door behind him and briskly walked towards the gate. He looked around for any sign of the red-head and finally spotted her some ways off, down the road. He half-trotted and half-ran to catch up to her, not wanting to startle her by apparating in front of her.

When he neared her, he grinned as he realized that she was muttering curse words in several different languages and frequently inserting Lily's name in her rant.

"Hey, you ok?" He finally said as he caught up to her, startling her out of her rant.

She shook off her surprise and then looked up at him suspiciously, "Why do you care?"

"I don't, I just wanted to escape from Lily, the harlot." He said with a perfectly straight face, his expression turning into a sneer as he mentioned Lily.

The red-head gave a short laugh at that, surprising him, "I didn't know people used words like harlot anymore."

He turned to look at her, examining her features as they resumed walking aimlessly. She didn't look ok, she was red and flushed and what looked like the beginning of tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

"So, I didn't know you were a Weasley." Scorpius said conversationally, trying to distract her from her thoughts. He didn't do well with crying girls; he wasn't very good at comforting them.

"Yep, I'm a Weasley, always have been. I just never knew about magic until yesterday." Rose said decisively, looking bitter as she mentioned the last part of the sentence.

"Really? You didn't know anything about magic until yesterday?" Scorpius asked, his surprise evident on his face. He hadn't known that. He had thought from the conversation that had taken place between her and Molly Weasley that she had learned about magic a few weeks ago and was now deciding where to live.

"I didn't know anything about magic or the fact that my whole family were wizards and witches until yesterday." She elaborated, looking rather disgusted.

"So how are you related to the Weasleys?" Scorpius asked interestedly.

"My Mum is Hermione Granger, the genius, muggleborn witch and my Dad is Ron Weasley, the strategist, pureblood wizard." She said cuttingly, her face twisted into an ugly sneer as she recounted the sentence.

Scorpius was flabbergasted. He had thought that she must have been a distant muggle relative of the Weasleys, otherwise, why wouldn't she have known about the Wizarding world or the fame of her parents?"

"So you are a squib?" He asked curiously.

"A squib?" She asked questioningly.

"A person born from two magical parents, but is not magical." Scorpius recited from memory, recalling the lessons that his grandmother Narcissa had given him regarding the different types of people in the Wizarding world.

"Yes, I'm a squib, who apparently doesn't deserve to know anything because I'm not good enough to do magic!" She said acerbically, her voice dropping into a hiss.

"No! I didn't mean it like that. I was simply curious. I didn't know that Hugo had a sister or that she lived in Australia. Your parents are pretty famous, I thought they might have mentioned you in the Daily Prophet, but I guess not." Scorpius said vehemently, shaking his head violently when he said no, as if to prove that he hadn't meant anything offensive by his question.

She stopped walking and looked up at him, trying to scrutinize his face in the dim light that filtered through the trees. He also stopped walking and stared down into her blue eyes. She had apparently found what she was looking for because she turned away from him, satisfied, and continued walking.

* * *

_Back at the Burrow: Seconds after Scorpius leaves_

"I'm going after Scor." Lily said adamantly, standing up in her chair and throwing down her napkin.

Albus threw down his napkin as well and stood up threateningly on the other side of the table. "You are not going anywhere! Haven't you ruined Scorpius's life enough?"

"What are you talking about? If you remember correctly, he cheated on me! I'm just being a good friend and checking up on him." Lily said theatrically, making sure to emphasize the fact that Scorpius had cheated on her and she was the better person by having forgiven him, nevermind the fact that Scorpius wasn't the one who needed to be checked up on.

"Please, Lily." Albus snorted at her, "Scorpius is my friend and I now know the truth. You cheated on him with Cormac McLaggen, the coach of the Holyhead Harpies!"

There was a rather stunned silence as everyone at the table ruminated over those words. Ginny Potter stood up from her chair and in a deadly, quiet voice asked Lily a question, "Lily, is this true?"

Lily looked around the table uncertainly, looking for support, finding none, she looked at her mother and exclaimed, "Of course not, Al's lying!"

"Al?" Ginny looked at her youngest son. Harry Potter also looked up at Al, obviously waiting for his answer.

"Why would I lie? Besides we all know it's true, Lily's a slut." He said in a disgusted voice.

Lily drew back her hand and with all her might, slapped Albus across the face. The sound of the slap that followed, seemed to echo around the room. Albus put one hand to his stinging face and looked in revulsion at his baby sister, who's chest was heaving and who's hand was still held up in the air. She looked like a wild animal that had been cornered, quite unlike the immaculate woman who had greeted Rose at the beginning of the party.

Albus gave another hateful glare at Lily and then spat at her, "Slut!". He spun away from her, toppling his chair before stomping away from her, slamming the Burrow door behind, rocking the foundations of the house. Harry Potter looked stunned at what had occurred in the Burrow and honestly quite tired of the drama that was occurring.

Immediately after Albus left the room, Ginny rounded on Lily, "I honestly don't what's wrong with you. It's quite obvious that Al's accusations are true since you reacted so strongly. While, I don't think that he should have called you that, he's right, you've been acting like one."

Harry Potter stood up and put a placating hand on his wife's shoulder's trying in vain to calm down the angry red-head. He looked up sadly at his only daughter and asked her evenly, "Is this true Lily?"

"No! Of course not!" Lily shouted indignantly, "Al was obviously lying and you-" She rounded on Ginny with an ugly sneer on her lips, "you believed him over me!"

"Really? If that's true then I'm sure we could go to talk to Cormac right now and if the rumour is false them I'm sure he'll deny it." Ginny Potter said squarely, staring her defiant daughter in the face, daring her to contradict herself.

"I-" Lily stuttered, her eyes flitting between both of her unmovable parents.

"There's no need for that." James Potter said, rising up from his chair in a tired manner, his normally cheerful countenance looking grim and bleak, "I know the truth. I'm sorry Lily, but I can't lie anymore. Lily cheated on Scorpius with Cormac. I caught them together when I apparated over to Scorpius's and Lily's apartment a year ago. I found out before Scorpius did and when I confronted Lily about it she told me that Scorpius had been hitting her, which was why she had sought comfort with Cormac."

"WHAT?!" screeched the voice of one usually unflappable woman, Hermione Weasley, "My daughter is out there with an abusive man and you thought to tell us now?!" She stood up from the table, Ron at her side, ready to go to Rose's side.

"No! I mean Scorpius is NOT abusive! Lily made that up. I would've told you if Rose was in any danger, she's my cousin. Sit down and let me finish explaining!" James barked out, looking frustrated that he was being interrupted, "After Lily told me this, I was ready to get Albus and everyone else tocome to Scorpius's apartment and beat him up, but Lily convinced me that she was alright for now and I was going to make it worse if I jumped him. She told me that she was going to dump him publicly tomorrow and then, afterwards, I could beat him up." James looked ashamed as he described how he had behaved.

"I cooled off and went home and then actually thought about what Lily said about Scorpius. Scorpius had never seemed abusive, he was actually a pretty nice kid, even for a Slytherin, he didn't seem like the violent type. Even when he and Al played on opposing Quidditch teams, he never played rough and I'd never noticed Lily having any bruises or marks on her body. I actually bought a muggle book from the bookstore about abusive relationships called "Dragonslippers: This is What an Abusive Relationship Looks Like" to spot the common signs. Lily and Scorpius's relationships had never showed the signs that the book said was common in every abusive relationship. I went back to Lily's apartment the next day to talk to her and listened in when she spoke to Cormac through the floo." James Potter's face took a green hue as he began explaining the next part of his dramatic tale.

000

_Lily and Scorpius's apartment, 1 year ago_

_James Potter watched with incredulous eyes as his sister talked to Cormac McLaggen through the floo. Cormac's face seemed to be sitting on a bed of green coals in the fireplace as he looked excitedly at Lily, who was lounging on the couch._

_Lily was telling him,"...and we'll be rich Cormac! Scorpius trusts me and it'll just take a few more months before I have him totally wrapped around my finger and then I'll ask him to sign the papers transferring half of his trust fund to my name!"_

_"Do you think he'll fall for it?" Cormac asked with an eager look on his face. _

_"Of course, he trusts and loves me," Lily said scornfully._

_"Why did you tell your brother that Scorpius was abusive when he found out about you and me?" Cormac asked, pouting._

_"Cormac, I panicked and that was the only thing I could think of at the time that would make it ok in his eyes for me to cheat." Lily said condescendingly. _

_"So, you won't break up with him again, only to get back together after a few weeks?"Cormac asked slyly, closely watching Lily's face. _

_"Of course not!" Lily snapped out, clearly annoyed by the question, "This was the last time, besides in a few months we'll be rich!" She cackled malevolently, joined by Cormac, until he started coughing from the smoke in the fireplace._

000

"What the fuck Lily?" Harry asked in an uncharacteristic display of profanity as James finished recounting his absurd tale and sat down at the table. He stood close to Lily with his jaw clenched, his normally tranquil green eyes, now hard.

"I-you just don't understand me or what I want!" Lily cried out to the room and then dramatically spun on her heel and flounced off. A second later everyone heard the floo activate and then nothing.

"What is happening?" Harry Potter asked exasperatedly, running his hands through his hair, "My niece just ran out because she learned about magic yesterday and already she's being pressured to do things she doesn't want to do. The boy who ran after her is my former arch-nemesis's son and my daughter's ex-boyfriend and is apparently _not_ abusive. My only daughter is in cahoots with her former coach, who happens to be a pervert, and apparently wants to steal her ex-boyfriend's money. My eldest son, is a stupid berk who couldn't be bothered to tell the truth! Is there anything I missed? NO?" Harry looked around the room wildly, his hair standing up on end because he had agitatedly ran his fingers through his hair during his rant.

"Did someone spike the punch?" George Weasley quietly whispered to his brother Charlie.

"I-um-actually did." Fred, George's son, quietly whispered back to him from across the table, "I didn't think this would happen! I just put in a few drops of the experimental potion that we've been trying out in the shop, the one that heightens a person's emotions. I thought we could liven the place up for the holidays!" He said defensively.

"Liven the place up?!" George muttered incredulously back to him, "You've just started an internal feud between at least two families!" He pointedly looked at a hysterical Harry who was quietly being consoled by his wife.

"Do you think it needs a bit of work?" Fred asked his father innocently.

A small smile appeared on George's face, spreading into a grin, "Nah! Let's sell it as it is!"

* * *

"So, what's your favorite colour?" Scorpius asked the red-head.

"What?" She looked at him confusedly.

They were both walking on the road that they had started out on and had walked in companionable silence since Scorpius had voiced the sentiment that her parents were extremely famous.

"What's your favorite colour Red?" Scorpius asked impatiently, "It's a simple question."

Immediately Rose's hackles rose up defensively and she glared at him, "I know it's a simple question, I was just startled by the fact that you asked me that out of the blue, when, for the past forty-five minutes, we've been walking in silence and don't call me Red." She gritted out between clenched teeth.

They fell in silence again for a few minutes.

"So, what's your favorite colour?" Scorpius asked a few minutes later. He grinned as she bared her teeth at him.

"Why do you care?!" Rose asked him exasperatedly, throwing up her hands and looking to the sky as if to ask why she had been forced to converse with an imbecile.

"I don't know, just thought I'd make some conversation. You don't have to get so defensive and angry." He told her, throwing up his hands in a calming gesture, as if Rose was a particularly vicious species of an animal.

"Well don't." Rose told him shortly, "You don't need to make conversation with me, in fact, I don't even know why you're still here, go home."

"Why? I thought we were having such a fun time." He said cheekily, grinning as Rose stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, trying, and failing, to be intimidating.

"Just go home and leave me alone, no need for you to be here." Rose told him sharply.

"And where exactly would I go?" He asked her rhetorically, spreading his hands over his head, "We're in the middle of NOWHERE!"

"STOP yelling!" Rose yelled back at him.

"NO one can hear me!" He shouted giddily, spinning around in circles.

Rose tried in vain to shush him, before she realized it was futile and just watched him, trying to quell the smile that tugged at her lips as he ran around in circles, acting like a deranged four year old hyped up on sugar.

He finally seemed to run out of steam and sat down in the middle of the road.

"Are you done?" Rose asked him amusedly, despite her previous annoyance. He had some weird power to annoy and amuse her at the same time, it was quite vexing for Rose.

He looked surprised but delighted when she sat down next to him. He gave her a crooked grin, his hair falling in his eyes, his eyes a heartwarmingly soft gray in the moonlight.

"You know you have mood swings, right?" Rose asked him wryly.

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black," he said, raising an eyebrow at her, "you have more mood swings than me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rose said primly, smoothing down her jeans.

"So, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Scorpius finally asked her, turning his head to her and raising an eyebrow.

"What elephant? What room?" Rose asked innocently, staring at his raised eyebrow. She wished she was able to raise her eyebrows like that. She was quite jealous of the blonde in that moment. Unfortunately she was not as gifted as the blonde in eyebrow movement.

"The fact that you told your mother that I was apparently your boyfriend." He reminded her, staring at her quizzically as she continued to stare at his eyebrows in fascination.

"Oh him, I mean you. Yes, well, there isn't much to talk about. I had your jacket with me in the taxi yesterday and my Mum noticed it and started drawing conclusions and I kind of went along with it, because I knew that it would annoy Lily." Rose said disinterestedly, tearing her eyes away from his fascinating eyebrows and looking down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers.

"That's it?" Scorpius asked incredulously.

"What were you expecting, some long drawn out plot that hinged on you being my boyfriend?" Rose asked skeptically.

"I don't know. I suppose I expected something more exciting than that." Scorpius said, looking disappointed.

"What, you didn't have fun pretending that I was your girlfriend, while snubbing Lily?" Rose asked bemusedly.

"It was kind of fun." Scorpius said, smiling again, "Did you see how she glared at you during dinner?"

"Yeah, I did. Why did she do that? Does she like you or something?" Rose asked him interestedly.

"We broke up a year ago, but she doesn't take no for an answer." Scorpius said wryly.

"Hmm." Rose mulled over that for a few minutes.

Rose suddenly looked up at the corner of the road. She had heard a strange sound, something that sounded like a crack. She looked over at Scorpius to see that he seemed none the wiser and was staring blankly ahead at the road.

A second later, Rose heard another sound right behind her. Just as she turned around to locate the source of the sound, there was a large hand clamped over her mouth and another roughly hauling her up by the waist. Rose tried unsuccessfully to scream and flailed around for a few, precious seconds before her captor whispered some incomprehensible word and pressed the tip of a long, thin object to her temple. A second later, her jerking limbs lay horrifically still.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter didn't make sense. I promise that this chapter has a purpose. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you to all the people who reviewed. I'd like to especially thank the guest reviewer who positively critiqued my writing and told me that sometimes I tend to repeat words. Thank you, I appreciate it and I hope I didn't repeat words in this chapter. Please remember to review. Until next time! :) **


	7. Revelations Part 1

**Warning: Swearing, Torture. **

_"Ennervate."_

Rose woke up with a start. Her head was pounding with an angry drumbeat that was in tangent with the racing of her heart. She looked around with scared eyes. She was propped up in a small space that closely resembled a dimly lit dungeon, complete with medieval torture devices, such as, thumbscrews, a rack, and even a stake with a fire burning at its base. Her hands and feet were bound tightly behind her back with twine and her mouth was gagged with a foul-smelling piece of cloth. As she frantically looked around the small cell, straining her eyes for a human shape, a figure, dressed in dark clothing, resembling the wizarding robes her parents had showed her, stepped out from the shadows.

The figure was a man of medium height and had long, dark, hair, hazel brown eyes, and gleaming white teeth that were currently bared at her. He carried in his hands a stick, a _wand_, she reminded herself with a grimace. He was currently tapping that wand in his hands, sneering down at her.

"Well, well, isn't this just perfect?" The man said condescendingly, his low, threatening voice, which promised unimaginable pain, sending shivers of fear racing down Rose's back.

"Now, we have all of our duckies, or better yet, _mudbloods_ and _blood-traitors_ all lined up in a nice little row, we can begin."

Rose looked at him with wide eyes, not understanding what he was referencing or what he meant by the words mudblood or blood-traitor, but it was obvious from his tone and the way he spat out the words that they were meant to be insulting.

The man just smiled disdainfully down at her and said, "I would love to _chat_ some more with you but I have other obligations to tend to soon, so let's get going."

He shifted back from Rose a few feet and took a defensive stance, raised his left hand, which he was holding the wand with and pointed it Rose's bound body as he shouted out the word, "_Cruc-_"

Before the man could finish the curse, for that was Rose assumed it to be, the door of the cell screeched as it was swung open and a woman came rushing through the door, effectively distracting the man.

"Wait!" The unknown woman shouted. Rose's heart lifted with hope, surely this woman was here to help her?

Rose's hope was dashed as the woman said her next words, "You didn't think to start the fun without me did you?"

The man laughed patronizingly at that and benevolently waved the hand that was holding his wand at the woman and said, "I didn't know you were back from your mission already, otherwise I would have invited you to join me. No matter, now that we are both here, we can begin."

The woman smiled at that and turned to Rose, flashing her a dimpled smile that was in stark contrast to the cold-blooded hunger in her onyx eyes. She was beautiful, with dark, curly, black hair and delicate, elvish features that belied the madness in her eyes.

"Wait, where is the boy?" the woman asked the man curiously.

_'What boy?' Rose thought, 'Did she mean Scorpius?'_

"The boy is, currently...indisposed of." The man said delicately, before starting to look impatient, "Are we going to begin or not?"

The woman just raised at an eyebrow at his tone before softly whispering in a deadly tone, "You might want to remember your manners, after all, we have a guest."

The man flushed at her words before turning back to Rose, who was listening to their conversation with bated breath, trying to discern the meaning of their words.

The man and the woman both seemed to have received some signal because they simultaneously raised their wands before pointing them at Rose and shouting "_Crucio_!"

Pain, absolute, unimaginable _pain_, rippled through her body in scorching waves. It felt like her body was being ripped apart as the pain continued on for eternity. There were hot needles, tipped with poison, jabbing relentlessly at her. Her nerves shrieked in anguish as wolves ripped the flesh off of her form. Her lungs screamed for oxygen as the breath was squeezed from her body and her muscles spasmed uncontrollably. Tears were streaming relentlessly down her face as her back arched off the floor and her body contorted grotesquely. Pressure seemed to build on her eyeballs and as the pain continued on, she could feel blood mixing with her tears as they streamed down her silently screaming face. Pressure continued to build and there was no escape, _none_, and just when she thought that she was going to die, the torment abruptly stopped and her captors laughed chillingly in malevolent delight.

Rose could still feel the after effects of the pain, as her body continued to spasm despite the curse being lifted. She cried silently, her sobs choked off by the gag that had been put into place, while the blood from the popped blood vessels in her eyes mixed with her tears and created a sharp, stinging sensation whenever she blinked.

_'Who were these people? Why were they torturing her? What was the purpose of the pain that she had experienced?' She thought in broken fragments. _

At this point she hoped for release, for someone to find her, for anything, a respite from the pain that she never wanted to feel again.

Her captors were looking at her with amusement and satisfaction as they looked at her broken form.

"Dirty little mudblood isn't she?" The woman conversationally asked her partner, "Her mother held out better, with Bellatrix."

_'Bellatrix?' Rose thought quickly, trying to place the name, 'She was the woman that her mother had mentioned briefly, as the the number one supporter of Lord Voldemort.' Another unbidden thought came to her, 'Her mother had been tortured by Bellatrix? Her mother hadn't mentioned that.'_

Her captors held up their wands again, getting ready to perform the curse that Rose was sure would end her, when the steel door of the cell banged open and a handsome man with golden, blonde hair walked arrogantly through the door.

Rose watched him through slitted eyes. _A crazy thought that was certainly not appropriate for the current situation popped into her brain, 'Were all of her captors unbelievably beautiful? Why couldn't they be ugly?'_

She didn't dare hope that he might help her. He looked down at her with disgust in his handsome blue eyes, before turning to her captors and telling them something in an unknown language.

"What!?" The woman screeched when the handsome blond finished addressing her, "He's not supposed to be awake! Wasn't anyone watching him?"

_'Who were they talking about?' Rose wondered detachedly. _

The man answered in the negative and shrugged, which seemed to incense the woman because she grabbed him by his collar and slammed him into the wall directly next to Rose's body.

"Why the hell weren't you watching him!? He could have gotten out and come down here!" She snarled at him, her fingers closing around his throat, choking him.

The black-haired man next to her had watched the proceedings with glee on his face, but when the woman started choking the golden-haired man, he put a placating hand on the woman's arm and in a soothing voice said, "It's ok, why don't we go check up on him now, check up on the other prisoner and then we can come back later to finish with her."

The woman continue to choke the golden-haired man, who was rapidly turning blue and scrabbling at her fingers, for a few more moments, before abruptly letting go of him. The man fell to the floor, part of his weight landing on Rose's bound feet, breaking her right ankle as he fell.

Rose screamed around the gag in her mouth as the tendons in her ankle viciously snapped. The woman laughed in cold amusement at this, while the man on top of Rose's ankle gulped in large quantities of oxygen. The woman grabbed the man and pulled him to his feet so that his weight no longer rested on Rose's ankle.

"Let's go." She told her companions, "We can deal with the boy right now and then come back later and try some of the torture devices out. I had the house elves oil the chains on the rack especially for that purpose." Her eyes glinted in savage excitement at the thought of being able to try the torture instruments on Rose.

She swept out of the cell, closely followed by the black-haired man and then the golden-haired man, who still had his hands wrapped around his throat and was massaging the bruised tissue around it. The cell door clanged shut behind the golden-haired man, who turned around, pulled out his wand, Rose shrank back in fright as he did so, but he ignored her and pointed it at the lock of the door and whispered an incantation that she couldn't decipher. The lock briefly glowed blue and then faded away. The golden-haired man seemed satisfied with this and he swept away without a backward glance.

Rose looked hopelessly as she was left alone in her cell. Her tears came back in full force, and the after effects of the curse seemed to linger because her muscles occasionally spasmed, jostling her broken ankle as they did so.

_'Why was she here? What did they want from her? Would they come back soon? She certainly hoped not. Where was Scorpius? She knew that he had been with her when she was kidnapped, had they kidnapped him as well?' _

Her exhausted body and mind seemed to have no answers for her questions. As she lay on the dirty floor of the cell, she briefly wondered if her parents were looking for her. Would they find her? That was her last coherent thought as her body succumbed to the unconsciousness that it had previously been fighting.

* * *

_Close to Midnight, two hours after Rose stormed out of the Burrow_

"Hermione, Rose and Scorpius have been gone for a while, do you think we should look for them?" Ron worriedly asked his wife, who was slumped in a chair in the living room, a glass of firewhiskey held in her hand.

Hermione looked up at Ron in surprise when he asked her his question. "You're right, they have been gone for a while, close to two hours." She said, checking her watch concernedly, "Maybe we should go after them, but what if Scorpius already dropped her off at home? You know, she probably didn't want to come back here. She's probably at home, sleeping right now."

Ron looked relieved as she said this, "You're right. We should probably start heading home too, it's been a long day."

"Tell me about it." Hermione muttered under her breath, heaving herself off the sofa.

Ron and Hermione both walked to the kitchen, where Molly Weasley was being consoled by Ginny and Harry.

"I don't know what is happening to my family!" She cried, "One of my grandchildren doesn't want to be part of this family while the other two are fighting about a boy."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Harry mustered a smile when Molly said the last part of her sentence.

"I don't think Al and Lily were fighting over Scorpius." He gently told the distraught woman, "Al is just angry that Lily lied to him about the circumstances of their break up, which caused Al to lose his best friend."

Hermione and Ron interrupted their conversation as they both went up to Molly and enveloped her in a warm hug.

"Don't worry Molly, everything will be alright." Hermione whispered to her mother-in-law, "We survived a war, we can survive this."

"You're right dear." Molly sniffed, releasing Hermione and Ron and giving them both a watery smile, "We've faced You-Know-Who, this is nothing."

Oh how wrong she was. She would later look back at this moment and lament those words.

"We'll talk later, right now we should get home to Rose." Ron said smiling gently at his mother, then clasped hands with his best mate and gave his sister a brief, tight hug. Hermione did the same and then, hand in hand, they trooped to the coat rack, grabbed their cloaks and walked over to the floo. Hermione took a pinch of floo powder, threw it into the flames, shouted her address and then stepped into the fireplace. Ron took a pinch of floo powder as well and taking a last look at the now empty Burrow, stepped into the fireplace and was whooshed away in a vortex of green flames.

Poor Ron didn't know that this would be the last time he would ever see the inside of the cosy, cluttered home that he'd grown up in.

* * *

_Lily's apartment, a few minutes after she stormed out of the Burrow_

Lily apparated to her apartment in a huff. She took a few steps and then collapsed onto a sofa. This had been the worst day in her life! She could feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She angrily swiped her eyes in a futile attempt to stop the tears. She could still feel the intensity of the hateful glare that Albus had fixed her with. Lily had pretended that it didn't hurt, but it did, a lot. She wished that she could go back, before all of this had happened, before she had broken Scorpius's heart, before she had taken the trip to Spain. _Spain_, the trip to Spain was the crux of her problems, that was where she had met _him, _where all of her problems had started. If only she hadn't met him, or at least not been so taken in with his charm or his exquisitely good looks. She shivered as she remembered his glittering eyes, the only part of him that betrayed his true feelings towards her. Maybe if she was dead the events that had been set in motion wouldn't have happened.

She mentally shook herself out of those morbid thoughts. It wouldn't do to think like that. She had a job to do and if it involved pushing away her family than she would do it.

Her resolve faltered as she remembered the pained look in her father's eyes. She loved her family, she truly did. She just wished that they were more understanding of her then they actually were. No, that wasn't quite it, she wished that they would pay more attention to her. She was the baby of her family and was thus, treated accordingly. She was always the afterthought. Her parents paid more attention to James and Albus then to her. Her father was close to Al, while her mother was close to James. You would think as the only girl in her family that she would be closer to her mother, but no, her mother didn't understand her love of clothes or shoe shopping. She seemed to think that her tastes were too extravagant. All of this coupled to her either being treated as a child or ignored.

She supposed the stunts that she had pulled off this past year had been to gain attention from her parents in a twisted way. Maybe. It didn't matter after all, the plan was set into motion and she would have to see it through. The only thing she regretted was losing Scorpius and to that bint, Rose! Who did she think she was, stealing Lily's man? She would get her revenge on that bitch and soon.

* * *

_"Ennervate."_

Scorpius woke up with a gasp, his head spinning as he tried to sit up, only to find that his hands and feet were bound and that he was lying on the ground. A sharp pain went through his head as he tried to prop himself against the wall. He hissed in pain as he felt the back of his tender head hit the wall.

"Oh, look the little, widdle blood-traitor is awake." A shrill voice from the shadows cooed.

Scorpius looked up to see a woman with dark hair and an insane smile on her face walking towards him with her wand held out in front of her body. Two men flanked her, one with golden hair and the other one with dark hair.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Scorpius croaked out, looking warily up at them.

"Why we want what everyone wants little Malfoy. We want revenge." The woman said in a high falsetto voice.

"What are you talking about? I've never met you before in my life." Scorpius said cautiously.

"Yes, it is rather unfortunate that we don't know each other, perhaps, if things had played out differently, we would have been...closer." The woman said stoically, dropping her madwoman act for a second before it slipped back into place, her wand dropping a few inches so that it pointed at her feet, "Now I wish we could _chat_ some more, but I have people to see and torture so let's get this over with."

She knelt by Scorpius's body, grasped him by the collar so that she was eye level with him and pointed her wand at his head and said, "_Legilimens."_

Scorpius felt an excruciating amount of pain build in his forehead as his mind was brutally assaulted with images of the past few weeks. The images were blurry and went by in a quick succession of events in reverse chronological order, starting from the time that he had spent walking with Rose.

The woman seemed disinterested with his memories of his parents, Lily or Albus, she seemed more interested in his memories of the Burrow and its occupants. The images that had fled by at a breakneck speed seemed to slow down when she found his recollection of the dinner that both he and Rose had stormed out of. She seemed especially interested in what Rose had said and the subsequent emotions that she had elicited in her parents and grandmother.

Scorpius gasped as she unexpectedly pulled away from his memories and let go of his collar, leaving him to slump on the floor as bone deep exhaustion set upon him.

"He knows practically nothing." The woman said to her silent companions, sneering down at Scorpius.

"Are you sure?" The dark-haired man cautiously asked her.

"Of course I'm sure!" The woman said angrily as she stepped towards him and jabbed her wand at his chest, "You don't doubt my abilities, do you know?"

"N-no, no, of course not." The man stuttered un alarm, waving his empty hands in front of her to signal his belief.

"Good." She curtly told him, turning back to look at Scorpius's slumped figure with a twisted smile growing on her face, "It's too bad that he doesn't know anything of importance but that doesn't mean we can't have a little _fun_ with him."

"What about the girl?" The golden-haired man on her other side tentatively asked her.

_'Girl?' Scorpius's mind grasped the word through the hazy fog that was clouding his brain, 'What girl? Did they mean Rose? Rose! What had happened to her? Was she alright? She had been with him when he had been kidnapped. Was she here as well?'_

"Don't worry, she's probably passed out by now. We can enjoy our time with the blood-traitor and then we can go see how she held up to our warm welcome. After we're done with him we can go back and interrogate her." The woman said maliciously, her eyes lighting up in delight as she imagined the horrors that awaited Scorpius and the mysterious girl. _  
_

Lazily she held up her wand in one hand and pointed it at Scorpius's torso.

"_Diffindo."_

Scorpius screams of agony went on unrestrainedly as deep gashes appeared on his stomach.

* * *

Rose was jolted into consciousness as a small hand gently brushed the hair out of her face. She tried to scramble backwards in alarm but was impeded in her escape by the stone wall that was directly behind her and her broken ankle.

"Are you awake?" A high, childish voice asked her.

Rose looked through slitted eyes through her curtain of matted hair to see a small figure in the gloomy lighting of the cell. The figure was knelt beside her and had one hand held up towards her face, as if to brush the hair out of her eyes.

"Mmmmm?" Rose tried to whisper out through her parched throat before realizing that she still had the gag on.

"It's kay, I won' hurt you." The childish voice lisped out, "Mummy might be back soon tho' so we have to hurry."

_'Mummy?' Rose thought incredulously, her only other coherent thought being, 'What?'_

The small figure hesitantly reached out a hand towards Rose and softly moved back the hair from her face. Rose could now see from the dim light in the cell that the figure was a boy, no more than than six years old. The boy continued brushing her unruly hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He reached into his pockets, pulled something out, dipped it into something by his side and tried to touch her face with it. Rose flinched back in fear, expecting to feel pain.

The boy drew back his arm and soothingly said to her, "It's kay, it's jus' a handkerchief."

Rose stilled as he put the wet cloth on her face and rubbed it in small circles, cleaning off the caked, dried blood, snot, and tears that had accumulated. He drew back his hand and peered at her face, cleaning off a speck of filth here and there before he leaned back on his haunches, satisfied.

He gently put his hand on the gag on her mouth and reached behind her head to untie the tight knot. Rose winced as he pulled her hair several times before he finally untied the knot and took the gag out of her mouth.

Rose moved her jaw around and winced as she felt her sore face muscles pop. She could feel bruises on her jaw from the tight gag that had been tied around her mouth. That would be a bitch to deal with later, if she survived, of course.

"Here." The child said, shoving a glass of water in front of her face, "I dipped the handkerchief in ther' to clean your face but, don' worry, the water is still clean."

Rose looked suspiciously down at the offered water and opened her mouth to refuse it before she felt her parched throat. She looked hesitantly down at the water and then up at the earnest face of the child. She could see some of the features of the child now through the darkness.

He had onyx eyes, tousled black hair and somewhat, delicate, elvish features. He reminded her of...the woman! The woman who had tortured her! What kind of trap was this?

Rose scrabbled back with a gasp, upsetting the water that he was holding out to her with her bound hands. The water spilled all over the floor and the front of Rose's blouse and jeans.

"What's wrong?" The boy asked her in concern.

"Yo-you're r-related to the woman!" Rose stuttered out, her fear increasing.

"Mummy?" The boy asked in confusion.

"Yes!" Rose said fearfully, pressing herself into the wall, trying to get as far away from the boy as she could.

"It's kay', I'm not here to hurt you." The boy reassured her, "Mummy don't know I'm here, she'd get mad if she knew." He shivered in fear when he voiced this thought.

"W-why are you here?" Rose asked uneasily.

"I came down to see Daddy. He lives in the dungeons too." He told her, "Daddy told me that there were new prisoners here, so I came to see you."

_'His father lived in the dungeons and his mother was Rose's torturer? What kind of family dynamic was that?'_ _Rose thought with some confusion, "I wonder how they celebrate Christmas?"_

"Daddy told me to come help you." The boy continued.

"Who's your Daddy?" Rose asked him curiously, her fears of being tortured allayed for the time being.

"Daddy is Daddy." The boy told her, shrugging as if to say 'who else would he be?'.

"Ok. Do you know who else is here?" Rose questioned the boy, wondering if Scorpius was also in one of the cells here.

"There's just you, Daddy, and the boy with the blond hair." The child said, counting off the people on his fingers as he named them, "There were other people too, but they died a long time ago."

"Oh." Rose said in a small voice, a bit creeped out by the fact that the other people who had been here were dead, "Wait, there's a boy with blond hair?

_'Was that Scorpius?' Rose thought, her flagging spirits lifting at the thought of not being alone, before she started to feel guilty for wanting Scorpius to be here in this hell-hole._

"Yep!" The boy told her cheerfully, apparently happy that she wasn't trying to get away from him anymore, "He's in the cell two doors down from yours." He pointed to his right, trying to stretch his arms as far as possible.

Rose smiled a small smile at his antics. It was bizarre to think that what was happening was really true. She had been kidnapped, by wizards no less. Wizards who had tortured her and were probably coming back for more. She shivered at that thought, her smile disappearing and her countenance turning gloomy again.

"Wait, how did you get in?" Rose asked inquisitively, "I saw the man with the blonde hair lock the door with a spell or something."

"Mummy owns the house and it's keyed into her magic. I'm her son so when I want a door to open in the house it does." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I gotta go, soon." The boy said, his face falling at the thought of leaving, "Mummy's already mad at me because I was awake before I was supposed to be and I ran away from my room, I don' want to get caught in the dungeons."

_'Was this boy who the woman was referring to when she became mad earlier?' Rose wondered thoughtfully. _

The boy reached into his pockets and pulled out a piece of stale bread, shoving it into Rose's bound hands.

"Sorry, I can't untie your hands." The boy said sorrowfully, "Mummy'd notice and she'd get mad at me."

He started edging towards the door, clearly itching to leave so his mother wouldn't catch him in the dungeons.

"Wait!" Rose called out quickly, "What's your name? Are you coming back?"

"Name's Dante." The boy said, looking back at her, "I'll come back later when Mummy's sleeping and I'll try to help you get out."

Rose's word of thanks was cut off by a guttural scream that permeated the air. Dante's face paled at this and he quickly opened the door and ran out.

_'Who was that?' Rose frantically wondered, her eyes wide. 'It sounded like a man. Could it be Scorpius?'_

The scream continued unbroken for a few more seconds before stopping and then starting up again.

Rose shut her eyes and huddled closer to the wall, hoping against hope that the screams would stop and feeling angry at herself that she couldn't do anything to stop the screams.

Rose wasn't a very religious person, but as the screams continued on, she rocked her body back and forth and prayed to any god or deity that was listening to make the screams stop, for someone, _anyone,_ to help him.

* * *

_Malfoy Manor: 2 A.M., four hours after Scorpius left the Burrow_

Draco Malfoy worriedly paced his study, a drink in one hand. His wife, Astoria Malfoy sat on the sofa near him, staring out the window.

"Where is he!?" Draco frustratedly asked his wife.

"I don't know sweetheart, you know Scorpius, he's a grown man. He's probably sleeping on Albus's couch right now." His wife wearily told him, pressing a hand to her face tiredly.

"However mad he might be about what we told him, he just got out of St. Mungos! He should be at home with us, not with the Potters!" Draco said resentfully, roughly raking a hand through his hair.

"Draco..." Astoria sighed, "Al's a good friend of Scor. You can't ask him to stop seeing his best friend."

"Like Hell I can't!" Draco shouted, slamming down his glass on his desk.

"Draco, he's going to resent you even more if you decide to interfere his relationship with Al." Astoria told her husband with exaggerated patience.

"What's so good about that boy anyway? He didn't side with Scor when Scor broke up with _that girl_, Lily." Draco muttered angrily, resuming his pacing.

"_That girl_ was Al's sister." Astoria told him wryly, "Scorpius told me that he didn't really support either of them. He kept out of their fight and he and Scor just sort of lost touch."

"Lost touch?" Draco scoffed, "A likely story. Why did Scorpius and _that girl_ break up, anyway?"

"I'm not really sure. Scorpius was never very clear on that." Astoria mused distractedly.

"Well, I'm honestly just glad that they are not together anymore." Draco remarked with relish, sitting down next to his wife on the sofa.

"Come on darling, let's go to sleep." Astoria smiled at her husband, who was now pouting, "If Scor isn't back by morning then we'll think of something."

"Fine." Draco huffed, getting up from his seat. He held out a hand to help his wife up.

Astoria smiled and slipped her hand into her husband's, allowing him to help her up. Her smile slipped off her face as she thought about her son.

_'Where is he?' she fretted worriedly._

A thousand miles away, a man wished for death.

* * *

**A/N: I know this chapter is a bit gruesome but I hope you'll continue reading. I would love reviews about what you loved/hated about this chapter and your predictions as to who the captors are as well as what will happen next. ****Thanks to Juubi for helping me write the torture scene because I don't usually write violence.** Thank you to all the people that reviewed last chapter! Ciao.


	8. Revelations Part 2

**Warning: Swearing. **

_She was running through a forest, a forest of oak trees, just like her previous nightmares. She was clutching a wand tightly in her hand._

_Her heartbeat was racing, her breath was coming out in quick clouds and she could feel a slight, reassuring pressure on her left hand. She looked down at her hand, which was connected by the fingers to a large, calloused hand. __She raked her eyes up from the sight of the calloused hand to a finely muscled arm and the broad shoulders of a, presumably, handsome man. She continued raking her eyes past his broad shoulders to his face, which was visible to her now. It was Scorpius, with his face set in determination, his silvery, blonde hair tousled from the exertion of running, sweat dripping lightly from his temples. He was wearing robes, while Rose wore the clothes that she had worn at the Burrow.  
_

_He was pulling her along like a rag doll, urging her to keep up in low, hurried whispers. He occasionally lookied down at her in worry and upon seeing her look back at him with wide eyes, he would give her a small smile and urge her on._

_The stitch in her side seemed to grow more prominent and her breath came out faster and her lungs were burning with need for oxygen and she couldn't go on any longer and their captors were catching up to them, she could tell..._

_Scorpius had noticed that she had started lagging behind and he was practically dragging her at this point. He abruptly stopped running and veered to the side of the invisible path that they had been following, so that he was leaning against a giant oak tree, partially hidden under its branches. He pulled Rose close to him so that she was cradled against his chest, one of his arms protectively holding her close. Rose could feel his heartbeat pounding through his thin clothing, in harmony with the racing of her own heart._

_He looked down at her and hoarsely whispered in her ear, "They're close, but I think we can apparate away. We should be out from under the anti-apparation ward. "_

_He quickly pulled out a wand from his robes and swished it in a complicated manner. Instantly, Rose felt like her body was roughly being squeezed through a narrow tube, the air was being painfully squeezed out of her lungs, the sensation felt never ending and just when Rose thought she couldn't take anymore, her lungs were free and she doubled over and started gulping large mouthfuls of air into her lungs.  
_

_When she finally had enough air to satisfy her greedy lungs, she looked up to find that she was no longer in the oak forest but was instead in a damp, dark alley. She looked around cautiously to see that her companion was leaning against the side of the alley, looking winded and also gulping large mouthfuls of air. He noticed her looking at him and gave her an exuberant grin. _

_She smiled back at him and then took his hand, leading him out of the alley..._

000

"Come on, wake up!" An insistent voice shook Rose awake.

She slowly woke up with a shudder, her mind still fuzzy from the dream that she had been having, which was slowly slipping away from her as she rejoined the land of the living. Her arms flailed as she tried to fend off her imaginary assailant. She managed to clip someone on the ear and her assailant cried out in a high voice, "Ow!", and abruptly let go of her arm.

Rose finally opened her eyes and saw a small, dark figure crouching next to her, rubbing his ear.

"Dante?" She asked in a hoarse voice.

"S'me." He whispered back, still rubbing his sore ear, his body crouched a little ways from hers.

"I'm sorry." She said remorsefully, sitting up and gesturing to his ear.

"S' kay." He mumbled back, "I was just trying to wake you up."

"I know, I thought you were one of the people coming back to torture me." Rose softly told him, her eyes turning glassy as she remembered the abuse that she had suffered at the hands of her captors.

"Don' worry, Mummy and her friends are busy right now. Ther's a party going on in the big hall and Mummy tucked me into bed and dressed up to go there." Dante told her reassuringly, resting his hand gently on her arm, "I sneaked down here to see Daddy and he told me to come wake you up so that you and the blonde boy can escape."

"The blonde boy-I mean Scorpius-how is he?" Rose asked anxiously, shuddering as she recalled the horrific screams-of a man that she was sure had been Scorpius-that had drenched the air last night.

"I don't know." Came the ready reply, the little boy shrugging his shoulders, "I came to see you first since your cell is closer to Daddy's."

"Did you go see him at all since we were brought here?" Rose asked worriedly, concerned that something worse had happened to Scorpius since she had fallen into a fitful sleep, while listening to his shrieks of agony.

"Nope." Dante said, popping the 'p' sound, "His cell is far away from yours and Daddy's and Mummy and her friends were there, so I ran away 'efore they catch me."

"Oh." Rose said, her disappointment and worry seeping into that one syllable.

"Don' worry, I stealed two wands for you to escape." The little boy said proudly, his chest puffing out in importance, "I stole one from Mummy when she was giving me a hug and the other one from Uncle when I was looking through his coat pockets for treats."

"Thank you!" Rose said exuberantly, her face splitting into a wide grin, "Thank you so much Dante!"

"S' nothing." Dante said bashfully, shrugging one shoulder and looking at the ground, "Come on, we should hurry before Mummy notices her wand missing."

"Of course." Rose said quickly, her smile diminishing as she realized that they still had to make it out of the cell alive.

"Kay." Dante whispered back to her and quickly took her bound hands in his hand, while his other hand fumbled around in his pockets for an instance before withdrawing a shiny, mahogany wand. He tapped her bound hands with the wand and whispered an incantation, "_Relashio_", instantly the rope tying her hands together was released. He bent to the floor and tapped the rope tying her ankles together and then whispered "_Relashio_" again, releasing her feet as well. Dante then took one of her bruised hands in his and tried his best to hoist her up off the dirty, dungeon floor.

Rose tentatively rose off the floor with his help and then hissed in pain as weight was transferred to her broken ankle.

"Your ankle's broken!" Dante yelped suddenly, just now noticing that her ankle was bent at an unusual angle.

"Yesss." Rose hissed out in pain, trying to adjust her body so that her weight was resting on her other foot.

"I-I don't know any healing spells!" Dante stammered out looking scared, "Mummy taught me the simple spells like '_Alohomora_' and '_Relashio_' but I don't know any healing spells!"

"It's ok, Dante." Rose said consolingly, running a tired and bruised hand frustratedly through her sweaty, bloody curls, while leaning against the wall of the dungeon, trying to steady herself.

Before Dante could burst into tears, (which he seemed close to doing), Rose held out a placating hand and said, "Come on, you can help me out of my cell at least and we'll just see what happens next, ok?"

Snuffling, Dante nodded his head quickly, slipping his small hand into her dainty ones. As she limped her way across the cell, Rose kept up a stream of chatter to distract herself as well as Dante from the pain in her bruised body.

"So, how old are you Dante?" She asked him curiously, her head cocked to the side as she looked down at him.

"I'm six years old." Dante told her proudly, holding his head high and sticking his nose pompously in the air, "Mummy says I'm a big boy now, but Daddy says that I'll always be his little man."

"Do you know how your Daddy ended up in the dungeons?" Rose asked Dante interestedly.

"No, Daddy's always been in the dungeons. I don't remember when he wasn' in the dungeons. He's allowed to come out for two days every year: one for my birthday and one for Christmas." Dante said scuffing his toe on the ground and looking down sheepishly as they both slowly trotted through the cell.

"Hmm." Rose said in deep thought. She glanced at Dante who was carefully moving at a sedate pace besides her. She couldn't imagine living the kind of childhood that Dante must have lived through, having a psychpathic bitch for a mother and a father that lived in the dungeons.

Rose was jolted from her thoughts as Dante tugged his hand from her grip, they had finally reached the cell door that kept Rose inside her own, private version of Hell.

Dante ran to the cell door and took out one of the wands that he had stolen. He lightly tapped the lock on the cell door and muttered, "_Alohomora_", under his breath. Instantly the lock glowed a bright blue colour and swung open, clanging loudly as it hit the stone wall behind it.

Rose winced at the noise but ignored the harsh sound that had set her teeth on edge and reached over to take Dante's hand again.

"Do you know where we're going next?" She asked him.

"Yep, we're going to Daddy's cell and then to the blonde boy's." Dante replied eagerly, seemingly happy that they had at least been able to escape the cell.

Rose looked around in trepidation and fear at the gray, stone walls that exuded torture, death, and misery in their very being. The corridor that they had come out in was long and narrow, dimly lit at irregular intervals with, what Rose assumed to be magic, for balls of weak yellow light were suspended in the air, throwing everything around it into eerie shadows. Rose looked down at the floor and then shuddered in revulsion as she noticed dried blood stains and other fluids that had seeped into the stone, permanently scarring it with patterns.

Slowly Rose and Dante continued their journey through the corridor, walking in silence now, their confidence at being able to escape sapping with every step they took. They arrived at another cell, almost identical to the one Rose had been in except there was furniture in this cell, which made it seem more permanent. There was a small cot at the side of the cell and a small loo that she could see on the other side, screened off by a grimy curtain. There was one occupant at the center of the cell, currently sitting cross legged on the ground, humming. Rose blinked a few times to clear away her eyes and to make sure that her time spent in her cell had not made her insane, but no, the figure looked very real and was indeed humming a very lively tune, which belied his despondent surroundings.

The man looked up as they approached the cell and Rose received a bit of a shock when she saw his eyes. They were light amber in colour and seemed otherworldly compared to the drab surroundings. She tried to discreetly study him and could see that he was very handsome, even though his time in the dungeons had taken its toll on his body. He had sandy, brown hair and a relatively lean build. He had sunken cheeks, which made his aristocratic cheekbones stick out and a beautiful smile, which he was currently showcasing. She was a little shocked to see that his canines were a bit too pointed than a normal human's, but perhaps his time here had altered them.

_'Dante must have gotten his cheekbones and smile from him.'_ She noted distractedly, before snapping out of her reverie and noticing that she had staring at him rather rudely, she quickly dropped her eyes and blushed in embarrassment. He smiled widely in relief when he saw them approaching and quickly stood up, off the floor. Rose noticed that he was wearing standard robes that everyone in the wizarding community seemed to sport, except, of course, his were shabbier and dirtier. He moved to the front of his cell and stood right in front of his cell bars, not quite touching them.

"Dante, are you ok?" He asked his son concernedly, scanning Dante's form for any injury.

"I'm fine Daddy." Dante said in mock exasperation for Rose's benefit. Rose hid a smile at his antics, one of the only bright spots in her currently bleak existence.

The man turned to Rose and gave her a quick smile. "Hello," He said, "We haven't met but my name is Teddy, Teddy Lupin."

"Hi," Rose said, smiling back at him, "My name is Rose Weasley."

"I know." He said simply, his face turning grim, "Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time, otherwise I would love to talk more with you. You need to leave quickly, before she comes back."

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Rose asked, appalled that they would leave him behind.

"No, I can't come with you and neither can Dante." He said sadly, correctly interpreting her next thought.

"But, why?" Rose asked bewilderedly, wondering what reason would force this man to stay in this hell or allow his son to stay here.

"There are unfortunately, many powerful enchantments on my cell. Dante isn't skilled enough to break through those and yes, I know that you can't perform magic, so you can't break me out and take me with you, as for Dante, well, you may not believe this, but he's safe and very much loved here. If there is one person that his mother is actually capable of loving, it's Dante." He sounded almost bitter when he said the last sentence, before he continued, "If, _when_, I escape I will bring Dante with me, but for right now, you and Scorpius must leave." He said earnestly, "Don't worry, Dante won't get into any trouble for helping you escape, he's quite devious when he wants to be." He smiled fondly as he said the last part of his sentence.

"Wait, how do you know about me being a squib or Scorpius's name?" Rose asked questioningly.

"You wouldn't believe the kind of things that I hear in passing and, well, Scorpius and I are basically cousins." He said, grinning a bit at her confused expression, "Now, like I said, I would love to talk more with you, but you have to hurry before the party is over or she discovers that her wand is missing."

"Wait, do you know why we were kidnapped?" Rose asked quickly, wanting, _needing, _to know the answer.

"You-" He started, before cutting himself off and cocking his head to the side, "The music's stopped upstairs, there's something wrong, you need to go find Scorpius and leave, NOW!"

Rose jumped a bit at his proclamation before quickly nodding her head and once again taking Dante's hand in her own and hobbling off. She wondered how he had been able to hear that the music had stopped, she certainly hadn't been able to hear it. She shook it off as another magical anomaly.

Dante seemed to know exactly where they were going and she could hear him quietly counting the turns and corridors they passed by in the labyrinth of cells as they delved deeper into the pits of the dungeon. Here the air seemed more stale and rank, as if these cells had not been used for quite some time.

Dante pulled his hand out of her tight grip and ran to a cell and peered inside. He wrinkled his nose and told her, "Yep, this is it, this is him. He don't look too good."

Rose shuffled closer to the cell and looked inside, only to reel back in shock.

"Fuck." Rose swore in astonishment, for the man residing in the cell looked like he had been mauled by a bear. There were deep gashes adorning his torso, some of which were still dripping blood onto the floor and there various different colored bruises on his face. Of course, those were only the injuries that she could see, who knew how much more damage he had suffered. The only indication that she could see that the man was still alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest.

Dante mirrored her sick expression, before composing himself and tapping the mahogany wand against the cell lock and whispering, "_Alohomora_", the cell door sprang open and banged violently against the stone wall. Awoken by the sound of his cell door opening, Scorpius stirred feebly.

Dante rushed inside the cell, while Rose limped behind him as fast as she could. Dante reached Scorpius first and he looked sick as he knelt beside his torn body. He took his wand and waved it into the air, while whispering '_Lumos', _instantly the cell was flooded with bright blue light, which proved to be a mistake because now Scorpius's injuries were starkly illuminated . Dante took one look at Scorpius's body and stumbled away, dropping his wand and extinguishing the light he was holding. He stumbled to the side of the cell and violently threw up, emptying the contents of his stomach.

Rose swallowed the bile in her throat, while looking at the gruesome injuries and tried her best not to join Dante at the side of the cell.

She took a steadying breath and said, "Ok, we need to do something. He's in a really bad condition and I'm afraid that he might die if we don't do _something_."

Dante staggered back from where he had emptied his stomach and wiped his mouth with a swipe of his arm. He nodded at her statement but then looked hopeless when he saw Scorpius's body again.

"I-I don't know any healing spells." He choked out, looking desperately lost and every inch the six year old boy that he really was.

"It's ok, we can still think of something, right?" Rose asked him desperately, looking down at Scorpius and hoping against hope that the man, who had ran after her and tried to comfort her, would walk out of this cell alive.

"The party's going to be ending soon and then Mommy and her friends will come back down to the dungeons." Dante said apprehensively, looking at her with wide eyes, tears beginning to brim there.

"Dante," Rose said slowly as an idea struck her, "how big is your house?

Dante looked a bit confused by her seemingly unrelated question, but answered her nevertheless, "'S not a house, 's a manor. There are lots of rooms, I have my own wing, the North wing."

"Do you think that we could, somehow, hide out in one of the rooms in your wing?" Rose asked him, hope beginning to shine in her eyes.

"Maybe," Dante said slowly before his eyes lit up, "I think you could! Mummy wouldn't check inside the house and we could make a 'alse trail of blood into the woods so that it looks like you ran outside!"

Rose looked at him in amazement and a smile overwhelmed her face, "That's perfect, how did you...", she trailed off questioningly.

"Ziggy, the house elf, reads me a lot of muggle murder mysteries as bedtime stories." Dante said bashfully, before his head snapped up and he cocked his head to the side, unknowingly mirroring his father's expression, "I think I hear someone coming, we have to hurry!"

"Alright." Rose said nodding her head, her expression becoming serious, "How will we pick up Scorpius and take him to your wing?"

"I could levitate him, maybe." Dante said a little uncertainly. He picked up the wand that he had dropped onto the floor and took another wand out of his pockets. He tried to hand Rose the wand before Rose shook her head.

"I don't know any magic, Dante." Rose said gently, "I'm a squib."

"I know", Dante said, "Daddy told me that you were, but you can still hold it and if someone comes, you could jab it up someone's nose."

Rose snorted a bit at that imagery, but nodded her consent nonetheless and took the offered wand from his hands.

Dante pointed the wand at Scorpius and whispered out, "_Wingardium Leviosa."_

Rose watched in awe as Scorpius was slowly, painstakingly lifted up, above the ground. He hovered a few feet off the ground, level with Dante's wand.

"Let's go, I-I'll lead the way." Dante choked out. It seemed that the effect of casting the spell had taken a toll on Dante, as beads of sweat were already rolling down his face.

Rose nodded in agreement and silently followed him out of the cell. Dante seemed to know exactly where he was going in the labyrinth of cells as he slowly took turns around corners without any hesitation. Rose realised that they were taking a different way from the way that they had come before.

_'There must be more than one entrance.' She deduced. _

As they came closer to the surface, the air around them became warmer and smelled of clean rain and fresh Earth.

"We're almost there." Dante hoarsely whispered out, his voice sounding strained. Rose looked worriedly at him, he looked close to passing out, there were dark circles forming under his eyes and his face looked pale and clammy. She could also feel the strain of walking such a long distance also taking its toll on her body, which was already weak from the torture she had suffered as well as the lack of food and water. Her throat felt parched and dry and her broken ankle was now throbbing in pain, even though she was trying to be careful and not put too much weight on it.

They arrived at a heavy ornate door carved with snakes of all shapes and sizes and with no handles. Here Dante stopped and set Scorpius's body gently on the ground. His chest was heaving and he leaned against the wall beside the door panting, trying to hold himself up and gather his resolve as well as taking a well deserved break.

Rose anxiously gazed at him, he looked close to passing out. She felt a stab of remorse for having had to rely on this poor child for escape. He didn't deserve to be involved in this mess. Unfortunately, this was the only chance of escape that she could think of right now. She didn't want to end up back in her cell and be subjected to more torture, once was more than enough. She wished that she could take Dante, Scorpius and Teddy and escape this house of a madwoman but, alas, that was not to be.

_Rose frowned, she could hear something,_ _'What was it?' She wondered before realization dawned upon her and panic overtook her senses._

"Dante!" She yelled in horror, "I can hear them, they're coming!" Indeed, she could hear the faint sound of clopping boots slapping against the ground, coming closer.

Dante tried to push himself off the wall but he instead slipped to the ground and fell, slumping against the stone, cold floor in the process.

"Dante!" Rose shouted out, ignoring the pain that her broken ankle was radiating and lunging towards him. She picked his body up from the ground and cradled him close to her chest, "Come on Dante, come on, you have to wake up!" She hysterically said, slapping his cheeks lightly, trying to get him to wake up. The sound of the boots were coming closer and she knew it was over. There was no escape, they were going to be caught too. A choked sob escaped her and tears of helplessness fell down her face.

_'NO!' She thought fiercely, she wasn't going to let this happen. _

Frenziedly wiping away her tears, she gathered Dante's body up and tried to look for somewhere to hide him for the time being so that he wouldn't be caught, she would have hid with him, but she didn't think that she would be able to find a hiding place big enough for all three of them. Unfortunately, she couldn't carry him on top of carrying Scorpius, or she would have taken him along with Scorpius and tried her luck with whatever lay on the other side of the door.

As her eyes frantically searched the dimly lit hallway for a hiding place for Dante, her eyes were drawn to a particularly dark stretch of the corridor corner. She peered cautiously at the strange, oily looking darkness, which seemed to be one metre wide by one metre long. She hesitantly scurried closer to the foreboding darkness and stared closely at it, trying to discern what was hiding there, if anything at all. Finding nothing but the same, oily, black darkness, she tentatively dipped one hand into the it. Instantly she scurried back with a yelp, clutching her hand; the darkness had _swallowed_ her hand! As soon as she had dipped her hand into it, the darkness had eagerly lapped it up, making it disappear from view and she had lost all feeling in her hand.

Rose looked at her hand anxiously, it looked fine, the same as before, in fact. She looked back at the darkness contemplatively, chewing her lip. She crawled over to the darkness again and took a deep breath, holding the air captive in her lungs and mouth to stop it from escaping, and plunged her head up to her neck into the darkness.

Rose fought the sense of loss that came from not being able to feel her head, or more specifically, her hair tickling the nape of her neck or the sensation of her eyelashes fluttering against her skin. Panic overtook her as she slowly she released the breath she was holding and tried to inhale, only to realize that she didn't have any oxygen to inhale. She tried to take a few more frantic breaths, before her brain realized that, no, there wasn't any oxygen in this stretch of darkness, but then, why wasn't she fainting? Why wasn't her brain screaming for oxygen? She took a few more breaths with the same fruitless results as before. She couldn't breathe in this strange darkness, yet she was still able to function. Her brain was still frantically trying to signal to her that she needed oxygen, yet her body seemed to continue without it; how curious.

Rose carefully pulled her head back from the darkness and immediately took a deep breath, flooding her lungs with oxygen. She took a few more instinctive breaths before she looked at Dante and then back to the darkness. Gritting her teeth, she slowly crawled to him and picked up his body. Panting slightly from the exertion, she took one last look at Dante and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before laying him down into the darkness. She watched as he disappeared from view along with her hands, before she slowly pulled her hands back up.

She would have stayed knelt before the darkness in which Dante's body had disappeared in forever, if she hadn't heard the loud sound of clopping boots alarmingly close to her current location. Her head snapped up, the sound was coming closer. With the help of the wall, she slowly stood up one leg. She wobbled slightly before she was able to balance herself. She limped over to the wand that Dante had dropped and with a grunt of exertion, threw it into the darkness. She wouldn't leave Dante defenseless. She didn't want to leave Dante at all, but if she had to she would at least give him a weapon to defend himself from the psychopaths that seemed to roam the halls of this house. She tucked the other wand that Dante had given her into the waistband of her now, dirty jeans and pulled her blouse over it so that it was hidden from view; who knew, she might have some use for it later. She gave one last look at the stretch of darkness and silently promised Dante that she would be back for him, no matter what.

Rose grimaced as she came closer to Scorpius's broken form. She wished somehow that she was able to heal him. If only she could actually use the stupid stick that Dante had given her... She shook her head of her musings and hauled up Scorpius so that her arms were firmly gripped around his back and forearms and started dragging him closer to the ornate door. She stopped as she came to the door and drew back in confusion. The door had no doorknobs or handles. She warily pushed hard against the door to see if it would budge, to no avail. She sighed frustratedly and ran her fingers against the carvings of the snakes on the door trying to figure out if there was a latch or some hidden panel that she had to press for the door to open.

"Ouch!" She gasped as some sharp part of the door caught her finger and broke the skin. She brought her finger to her mouth and then watched in amazement as the eyes of the snake carvings glowed a bright red for a few seconds before fading back to the color of the door. She stared at the door in bewilderment, what had triggered that? She cautiously pushed her hand against the door and pushed against it to see if it had unlocked, but no, the door obstinately remained shut. She looked at the broken skin of her finger before looking back at the door as understanding dawned upon her face.

_'Blood,' She realized, 'The door needed blood to open it. But whose blood? Mine obviously doesn't work. Maybe you need to be able to perform magic or have magical blood, if magic is in someone's blood, for it to open. '_

She looked back at Scorpius before going towards him and dragged his body closer to the door. She picked up one of his heavy arms and then took his hand in hers and ran it lightly across the carvings of the snakes. She drew back his hand as the eyes of the snakes carvings once again glowed, this time a bright, emerald green in color.

Rose adjusted her hold on Scorpius and prepared to push against the door, only to pause in fear when she heard someone loudly yelling behind her. She chanced a look behind her to see the edge of someone's expensive, black and silver boots rounding the corner of the corridor, before she turned back to the ornate door and _pushed_ against it with all her might.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. First, I would like to apologize to Diane Potter, I PM'd her and told her that I would have this chapter up by Saturday morning of last week and unfortunately that did not occur. I'm sorry Diane, I hope this chapter made up for it! Second, I have recently published a new story called, "Blood and Chocolate", check it out. Thanks to all the people who reviewed last chapter, your reviews make my day! Adieu!**


	9. Relief

Rose heaved open the heavy, ornate door with all of her might and stumbled as it fell open. She quickly looked down to readjust her hold on Scorpius and then looked up to see the room she was in. Her mouth fell open in awe as she drank in the sight of the richly decorated room. It was decorated with finely detailed tapestries depicting a mosaic of scenery that covered every inch of the walls. The tapestries seemed to be telling a story, each panel portraying a scene or moment in time, progressing from the one directly to the right of her and continuing counterclockwise throughout the vast room. The occupants of the tapestries seemed to not notice Rose when she tentatively shut the door leading to the room behind her, leading Rose to conclude that the occupants of the tapestries were in no way sentient and the tapestries were similar to giant movie screens that portrayed only thirty seconds of film. The message that Rose could conclude from watching the tapestries were that they were telling the story of life, or more ominously, death. The first tapestry depicted the beginning of life and each tapestry was a succession of that one, until the last tapestry, which held nothing more than a scythe, which repeatedly fell in slow motion, painted upon a background of midnight black. In contrast to the vibrant tapestries that lined the walls, the furniture was drab and sparsely located around the room.

Rose shook off the heady feeling that was slowly creeping up on her, urging her to stay in this room and just watch the endless cycle of life and death. She had other matters to attend to, such as hiding from the evil witch that was no doubt looking for both her and Scorpius. She determinedly set her jaw and used all of her strength to lift the mangled body of Scorpius. She dragged him across the room to the other end of the hall, her steps muffled by the carpet that spanned the floor of the room. At first she was rather disgruntled by the carpet that impeded her journey, but she quickly became thankful for the thick, scarlet, red material, for she had realized that Scorpius was bleeding and had left tracks across the carpet. She winced at that realization, but was thankful that the red of Scorpius's blood was not readily visible against the backdrop of the carpet.

Rose grunted as her back hit the door of the exit with a thud. She gently dropped Scorpius's arms to the ground and turned around with a huff, her back and broken ankle aching with pain. She rolled her shoulders to get rid of the stiffness, before standing up straight and looking at the door with narrowed eyes. After her experience with the other door, she wasn't too keen to touch the door, only to have it suck her blood, but she figured it was a price that she had to pay if she wanted to keep her life. A pricked finger was nothing in comparison to losing her life. She cautiously reached out a hand to touch the edge of the oak paneled door and then pushed against it, using all of her meager strength. To her surprise and relief, the door swung open readily enough to reveal a white, marble staircase that ended far up, above her head. The door that she had come out of was at the end of the staircase, carefully shrouded in the shadows, rendering it nearly invisible to anyone wandering the halls at this time of the night.

The dilemma that she now faced was the fact that she had no idea which way to go, she had no inkling of where Dante's room or wing was. She had two choices, to either follow the staircase up or cross the foyer and go through one of the doors that lined the edges of it. She took the latter choice, knowing that she couldn't drag Scorpius up the stairs. She just hoped that one of the rooms she stumbled upon was a good hiding place for the both of them.

She reached down to pick up Scorpius's arms, wincing in pain as her mangled ankle touched the cold marble of the floor. Exhaustion was starting to set in her bones and Rose knew that she couldn't bear much more of this. The adrenaline was ebbing from her body and fast. The next room that she stumbled upon would have to serve as their sanctuary, at least for now.

She continued lugging Scorpius's prone form across the marble floor, thankful for one thing at least; the wounds on Scorpius's back had closed and weren't dripping precious blood anymore. She crossed the foyer and came across another door, one that was thankfully a plain, oak door, not decorated ornately like the other two doors and had a doorknob, lessening Rose's fear that she would have her blood sucked out from her finger again.

She quickly turned the doorknob and dragged Scorpius through the threshold of the previously dark room, which lit up with light as soon as they stepped into it. Rose clicked the door shut and turned around with a relieved sigh, only to stop dead at the sight that faced her.

Vials. Hundreds and hundreds of vials lined the shelves of the cavernous room. Small vials filled with brightly coloured liquids.

Rose hesitantly approached the nearest shelf and reached out to one of the vials, which had a tiny label attached to the front of it. Rose squinted her eyes and rubbed her finger against the dusty label, trying to decipher the spidery writing. 'Dreamless Sleep', the label said.

Rose's eyes widened as she realized the implication of these vials.

_'Potions! Potions like her mother had described making in her Potions class in Hogwarts. Potions that could be used to heal Scorpius.'_

She smiled a wan smile in appreciation and briskly limped up and down the aisles, reading each of the begrimed labels, trying to find a potion that could help her. She was finally able to pick up a few potions, including 'Blood Replenishing Potion', 'Bruise Removal Paste', 'Essence of Dittany', and 'Invigoration Draught', which looked promising. She hadn't been sure that 'Essence of Dittany' was helpful in their situation, but as a medical student, she knew that dittany was frequently used in medicine, so she figured it could help them in their situation.

Rose approached Scorpius, who was still lying on his back by the door where she had left him, her arms laden with the vials of Potions. She knelt down beside him, depositing the vials on the ground and carefully reached out a hand towards him. She winced in sympathy as she took in the numerous blue and purple bruises adorning his face and trailing down his collarbone and disappearing under his tattered shirt. Rose gently unbuttoned his shirt and as each button was unbuttoned, more and more freshly bruised and scarred skin was revealed, some of the cuts still bleeding steadily. She covered her mouth in horror as the full extent of his injuries was revealed. The pattern of the bruises wasn't random, they formed a grotesque impression resembling a snake twined around a human skull.

The monsters who did this had obviously had a purpose in mind when they had carved that outline on Scorpius's chest.

Rose gingerly touched the bruised outline with her fingertips, tracing it, an expression of revulsion growing on her face. She moved her hand back and, without breaking eye contact with the horrific mosaic of bruises, reached behind her to retrieve a potion vial. She looked at the vial to read the tiny label and realised it was the 'Bruise Removal Paste'. Looking ag the label more closely, she could see an emblem etched onto the corner of it, WWW. Perhaps that was the company that had manufactured it?

She slowly uncorked the top of the vial and then, immediately reeled back in disgust at the smell emanating from it. It smelled like dead bodies and rotting spinach, not the most enticing aroma in the world. Rose forced herself to take hold of the vial and dump its contents onto Scorpius's chest. With one hand covering her nose, Rose used her other hand to rub a thick layer of the slimy, green paste into Scorpius's wounds. She used the tattered remains of his shirt to wipe off her hand, she doubted he would mind.

Next, she propped Scorpius's head up against the door frame and, in small doses, dribbled the scarlet 'Blood Replenishing Potion', down his throat, using her hand to massage his throat, so that the potion made its way to his stomach. After having done that, she slid his head down so that it rested on the floor once again.  
Rose looked at his chest wound with critical eye, one finger pressed to her lips. Right now, she couldn't really see the 'Bruise Removal Paste' working, but she didn't want to put anything else on Scorpius's wound because it might react badly with the the paste. She couldn't do anything else for him, except wait. She slid down to the floor as all the energy drained out of her, she just felt so tired, and she hadn't even taken anything for her bruises or her ankle yet, but, perhaps later...

* * *

_'Ow,'_ His head was pounding with a vengeance unrivaled by any muggle rock concert that Scorpius had ever been to. Every inch of his body ached with pain, it felt like he had been run over by a giant, then mauled by a hippogriff, while being thrown about the flop system repeatedly. Most of the pain seemed to be centered on his chest, which felt tender and new. What had he been doing that he had ended up in this position? Had Al forced him to go muggle clubbing again? But no, even when they had gone clubbing, his body had never hurt like this.  
Scorpius reluctantly opened one eye to assessed the situation, only to immediately close his eyes as quickly as he had opened them.

_'Bright lights. Why were they so bright? His bedroom lights were always set on dim, unless he wasn't passed out on the floor of his bedroom, but Al's bedroom lights weren't such a blinding white color either, they were a soft yellow._ _This begged the obvious question: Where was he?'_

He cracked his eyes open again, narrowing them to lessen the pain as bright white light cheerfully flooded his senses. He tried to sit up and choked back a scream as the skin on his back stretched painfully, it felt like his skin was on fire. He closed his eyes again, and held his back up rigidly, trying to lessen the pain to no avail. He gulped, only to gag at the taste in his mouth. The inside of his mouth tasted of coppery blood. It invaded his senses and he doubled over heaving, as he tried to rid his mouth of the repugnant taste.

This time he did scream hoarsely as the skin on his back was stretched painfully, he could almost feel his skin breaking into pieces. It felt like the wounds, for that was what he assumed them to be, had opened up. His body dry heaved again, but he couldn't manage to bring up anything. Ever so slowly, the urge to vomit passed and he was able to rest his head on his knees.

The minutes ticked by as he gradually regained strength. He carefully raised his head off his knees and opened his eyes again. He forced himself to keep his eyes open and looked around the room through slitted eyes.

He was in a colossal room, lined with hundreds of shelves, that spanned the entire area. Each of the shelves as held a multitude of Potion vials, carefully categorized into sections and meticulously labeled. Someone had obviously worked hard to organize all of this, but the room seemed to have a musty, stale air, as though it hadn't been opened in a while. Dust lined the edges of the shelves in a thick layer.

The light seemed to come from overhead. Scorpius craned his head up gingerly, and saw spheres of light evenly distributed across the ceiling of the room.  
Something stirred against his side and he looked down to see a girl on the ground next to him, her firetruck red hair covering her face. Scorpius felt like he knew this girl, she seemed very familiar. He tenderly brushed her hair off to the side to reveal a bruised and pale face.

_'Rose. That was what her name was!'_

The memories came rushing back viciously. The Burrow. Walking with Rose. The dungeon. Being tortured until he passed out. They must have escaped or something if they had ended up in this room. Had Rose brought him here? Maybe, but she was obviously not in a good condition now. He would have to heal her. If only he had his wand, but that bitch and her cronies had taken it away before he had woken up in the dungeons.

He tenderly traced the edge of Rose's jaw. He wished that he could abbey done something so that Rose wouldn't have ended up here. She wasn't involved in this. From what the bitch had said he had an inkling of an idea of what she was part of and he knew why she had brought him here. Rose had just been caught on the crossfire.

Looking at Rose's face, which seemed so innocent and carefree in her sleep, he was tempted to do something very stupid and absolutely inappropriate in their situation. But he ignored the rational voice in his head and leaned down as best as he could, placing a feather light kiss on her brow. His crazy deed of the day done, he looked around his feet interestedly. There were potion vials littered on the ground.

_'Ah, Rose must have used them to heal him as best as she could.'_

He uncorked the first one that came to his hand and delicately sniffed it. 'Bruise Removal Paste', the pungent aroma of it was particularly telling. He placed a dollop of the paste into his hand and gently rubbed it into the freckled skin of Rose's face. He promised her then and there that he would get her out of here and he would down as many of the bastards that had brought them here while doing so.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! I know this chapter isn't as long as the other ones, but I'll post the second half of this chapter tomorrow. ****Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I was in a hurry to put this chapter up. **I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, I've unfortunately been experiencing writers block. Thankfully, I have overcome that, largely in part to one loyal reviewer, BiggestPJOandHPfan, who PM'd me to ask me why I wasn't continuing this story, so thank you for your PM's, they encouraged me to continue. I've recently published a new story called, "Blood and Chocolate", please check it out. Also, please remember to review, otherwise I won't be as motivated to update quickly. A big thank you to all the people who are favoriting, following and reviewing this story, I adore you folks! Ciao! :) 


	10. The Calm Before the Storm

Rose woke up slowly, her eyes fluttering open as she regained consciousness. Her limbs felt heavy, but unusually pain free, as if she had woken up from a long sleep, not passed out from exhaustion. She stretched out her limbs languidly and shut her eyes again, not quite wanting to wake up and face the horrors of the day.

"Hey, are you awake?" a gentle voice asked her.

Her eyes snapped open quickly, her body automatically tensing up, vary of danger. She was greeted by the unexpected sight of two silvery blobs that were staring back at her in consternation.

"AHH!" she yelled in fright, scrambling back, trying to get away from whatever_ it_ was.

Scorpius looked back at her with an amused grin on his face, his eyes a warm silver.

"Don't do that!" Rose told him angrily, her hand on her chest, trying to slow down her racing heart.

"Sorry, but I was getting bored keeping watch and you were sleeping forever." he told her unrepentantly, shrugging his shoulders.

Rose just glared at him and his sorry excuse of an apology. She lifted her sticky hands to her face. Wait,_ sticky_? She looked down to see that her hands and arms were lathered in thick, foul-smelling paste.

"I put the 'Bruise Removal Paste' on you when you were sleeping." Scorpius told her when Rose looked at him questioningly.

"Um, thanks, I guess." She told him awkwardly, scratching her head, careful to not get the paste stuck in her hair.

"You're welcome. Thanks for rescuing me and giving me the 'Blood Replenishing Potion' and putting the 'Bruise Removal Paste' on me." he told her stiltedly, not quite looking at her. He punctuated his thanks with a nod at the end of his statement, determinedly staring ahead of him, his cheeks turning a faint pink.

"You're welcome..." Rose trailed of awkwardly.

She realized that this was only the second time that they had really been alone together. The first being when Rose had stormed out of the Burrow and he had followed her. The conversation they'd had before hadn't been much of a conversation, but more of a long argument. It seemed almost odd that they were sitting here, not arguing or fighting. Whenever they had met before there had always been a war of words, yet, now, sitting in a storage room full of potions, they had nothing to say to each other.

An uncomfortable silence descended upon them like a heavy, opressive blanket as they continued sitting on the floor, not looking at each other.

"We need to find a way out, figure out a way to escape." Scorpius finally said, breaking the silence, turning towards Rose and staring at a spot over her shoulder.

"Obviously." Rose snorted sarcastically.

"Well, if you have any good ideas, now's the time to speak up." he said irritably, finally looking at her in the eyes.

"I don't know a way out and they are probably looking for us now." she admitted, a little ashamed that she hadn't been able to find a way out.

"How did we escape from the dungeons?" he asked her curiously.

In halting words, she told him the whole story. In the middle of her monologue, he interrupted her with wide eyes, his voice trembling a little, "Wait, Teddy, you met Teddy Lupin?"

"I-yes, I believe that was his last name." Rose said quizzicaly, "He was the one who told Dante to help me escape."

"It can't be Teddy Lupin." Scorpius exclaimed, looking incredulous.

"Why not?" Rose asked irritably, angry that he didn't trust her to remember who she had talked to.

"Because Teddy Lupin died eight years ago."

* * *

"You say you haven't seen him since then?" Harry Potter asked an irked Draco Malfoy.

"No, of course not!" Draco snapped back, scowling at Harry over the rim of his cup of tea, "Why do you think we are so worried?"

An odd ensemble of people were seated in the living room of Wiltshire Manor, the home of Draco Malfoy and his wife, Astoria Malfoy. The ensemble consisted of Draco and his wife as well as the two people who had once sworn to never take one step into this very house, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

"Look-" an angry Ron Weasley gritted out between clenched teeth, "We are just asking because the last time we saw Scorpius, he was running after my daughter, Rose, and we thought that they might have come here."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth?" Draco asked suspiciously, totally disregarding the second part of his sentence.

A red-faced Ron Weasley angrily opened his mouth to retort, before a worried Astoria Malfoy quickly deflected the conversation back to safer grounds.

"You have a daughter?" she asked curiously, resting a placating hand on her seething husband's tense arm.

"Yes, her name is Rose, Rose Weasley, and the last time that we saw her was in the company of your son at the Burrow during dinner, before she...left." Ron said delicately, a worried frown making its way onto his face as he said Rose's name.

"And you said the last time that you saw Scorpius was when he ran out after Rose?" Astoria questioned inquisitively, a gleam entering her sage, green eyes.

"Yes," Ron said stiffly.

"Why did Rose run out during dinner?" Astoria asked, "And then, why did Scorpius go after her? As far as we know, Scorpius has never met her before."

"Rose ran out during dinner because of a...familial dispute." Harry said quickly, interrupting Ron, who had just opened his mouth to give a scathing answer.

"As for Scorpius not knowing Rose, he apparently knew her well enough to start dating her." Ron bit out, a scowl making its way onto his face.

"Wait, that simply can't be true!" Draco said his voice getting louder and higer pitched as he said each word, "You are just making that up to accuse my son!"

"I didn't believe it at first either, but, apparently, it's true." Ron said disappointedly, ignoring Draco's stilted accusation, "They met in Australia a few months ago, after Scorpius broke up with Lily."

"Why was your daughter in Australia?" Draco demanded, looking more paranoid by the second, I've never heard of her before, if she even exists."

Ron acquired a pained look on his face before he finally muttered out, "She lived there with her grandparents. She's a medical student."

"Wait, why would she-" Draco said bewilderedly, before an astounded look made its way onto his face when he connected all the clues, "Are you telling me your daughter is a squib? The know-it-all and the red-headed pauper's daughter is a squib?"

"Shut your face you little ferret!" Ron bellowed, jumping to his feet, the tea he was holding spilling down upon the snow, white carpet.

"Don't tell me what to do in my own house you little weasel!" Draco also jumped to his feet, his cup of tea thrown to one side.

They both loomed like wrestlers on either side of the coffee table, both of them holding their wands in their hands, an enraged look on both of their faces, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"STOP IT, both of you!" yelled a powerful voice, interrupting their impending fight.

Both of the ill-tempered men automatically looked towards Harry, who was still sitting on the sofa, his features frozen and his eyes wide.

The speaker of the powerful words stood across from the men, holding her wand in her hand, her eyes gleaming in anger.

"Both of you are acting like spoiled brats!" she shouted furiously, "We are supposed to be figuring out where our children are, not rehashing petty schoolyard rivalries. I think both of you enjoy this far too much. If Draco hadn't married me and Ron hadn't married Hermione, both of you would be perfect for each other! Pig-headed idiots, both of you..." she continued ranting frustratedly, before, rather unexpectedly, bursting into noisy tears.

Draco, whose face had turned pink at the insinuation, immediately became contrite when Astoria started sobbing. He led his wife back to the sofa, murmuring soothing words to her, rubbing her back in a comforting manner.

Ron, who had looked rather baffled by the entire ordeal, also turned a bright, tomato-red at the insinuation, before looking rather shame-faced that he had made Astoria cry. He didn't know her very well, she'd been behind their graduating class and he'd never developed the intense hatred that he felt towards Draco, directed at Astoria. He privately thought, and Hermione agreed, that Astoria was a positive influence on Draco and he'd changed from being an arrogant, egotistical prat, to a slightly less arrogant and egotistical prat. He'd never say that to the blonde-haired man in front of him, of course.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Astoria choked out, her words garbled and made almost incoherent by her tears, "I'm usually not like this, but the past few months...and now Scorpius is missing and he apparently has girlfriends that we know nothing about and you two are fighting..."

"It's ok, hon." Draco said warmly to Astoria, sitting besides her on the sofa, one arm wrapped around her shoulders, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset." He looked tenderly at her and then reached out a hand to wipe away her tears.

"I'm sorry, as well" Astoria smiled tearily at her husband, "I've just been so bloody emotional lately, and I wanted to share the news with Scorpius during Christmas dinner, but it looks like Scor won't be home for Christmas this year."

Ron looked rather confused seeing the scene in front of him and awkwardly sat on the sofa, while a look of understanding graced Harry's face and he smiled a small smile as he watched the scene in front of him.

Astoria's lower lip trembled, forewarning another flood of tears.

Ron, fearing another round of crying, quickly inserted his own apology, "I'm sorry too, Astoria. I didn't mean to make you upset and you're right of course, we need to concentrate on finding our children."

"Hermione and Ginny as well as the rest of the available Weasley family are doing their best to look for them." Harry seamlessly inserted himself into the conversation, now that the danger had passed.

"My contacts at the Ministry have also been doing some digging for me." Draco stated, his chin tilted up a little, daring anyone to make digs about his 'questionable' contacts at the Ministry.

"Alright, that's good." Harry nodded his head decisively, "The more people looking for them, the better."

"We're going to find them." Ron said confidently, a determined look on his face.

"I hope so." Astoria said softly, a faraway look in her eyes, "I hope so.

* * *

Lily Potter stared blankly ahead at the chipped paint, flaking off the walls. She was seated in the corner booth of the _Leaky Cauldron_, her face hidden by the shadows. She was nursing a drink in one hand, non-alcoholic of course. She couldn't afford to make any mistakes, not with _him _watching her every move.

At exactly three o'clock on the dot, he appeared as if summoned, walking swiftly through the fireplace. He nonchalantly seated himself on the other side of Lily, as if by accident.

"You arrived exactly on time." Lily remarked casually, taking a sip of her drink.

"Of course, darling." he said just as casually, "I would never miss a date with you."

"I heard the news. I hope that means that everything is going as it should?" Lily asked uninterestedly, her head turned away from her companion, her eyes following the movements of the other patrons in the pub.

"Everything is proceeding as planned. Your blonde little friend and his girlfriend are tucked away at Headquarters."

"Good," Lily answered cooly, "When will the next part of the plan be set into motion?"

"Tomorrow if everything goes well." he appraised her with fathomless eyes, eyes of a killer, "You know the part that you have to play. If you don't suceed...you know the consequences."

"Don't worry, I know exactly what to do and there is no question of failure." Lily told him sharply, turning her head to look at him and fixing him with a glare that would have felled lesser men.

"Perfect, here it is." he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, box shaped package, about the size of a matchbox, "Good luck."

She tucked the small package into her pocket with care, knowing exactly how dangerous its contents were.

He stood up from his seat, gave her a stiff nod and walked out of the pub. The exchange had taken a total of five minutes, no more, no less, all according to plan.

"I don't need luck." Lily whispered after his retreating back, "Luck is for fools and dreamers and I'm neither."

* * *

The clanking of his cell door opening woke Teddy up from his slumber. He stirred slowly and then opened his eyes, knowing exactly who had decided to grace him with their presence this early in the morning.

"Good morning, Bea, haven't seen you in a while." he said calmly, stretching his hands above his head, blinking sleep away from his eyes.

"They're gone." she said without preamble, standing in front of him, a furious expression adorning her normally pretty, elfin features, "That's not all, Dante is also missing."

That managed to jolt Teddy into wakefulness immediately, "What do you mean Dante is missing?"

"I mean, he isn't in his room, or anywhere that we can find him. It's like he's disappeared." she answered with forced calm.

"I-" Teddy cut himself off, thinking quickly. He knew that Rose wouldn't have taken Dante with her, he had specifically told her not to, which meant that she must have told Teddy to hide somewhere so that he wouldn't be caught and punished. Bea would obviously know who had helped the prisoners escape and Dante would feel the repercussions.

"WHERE IS HE?" she shrieked, all pretense of calm disappearing like a dark cloud. She strode forward and caught Teddy by the shoulders, forcing him to look at her.

"I don't know." Teddy answered back tranquilly, staring at her ink black eyes.

"He is my son too, if you know where he is, tell me." she breathed out, her face centimeters away from his.

"I don't where he is, but I know that he is your son Bea, believe me that's something that I can never forget." he told her bitterly, breaking the hold that she had on his shoulders and turning away from her.

"It starts tomorrow. I better find him before then or all hell will break loose. You now we can't postpone." She told him with hooded eyes, staring at his slumped form.

"_We, _there is no _we, _there is only _you_. I have nothing to do with the evil that you plan to commit."

"Oh darling, don't kid yourself. You are one of the founders of this plan, without you, this would have never been possible." Bea told him with a smirk. She slowly walked out of the cell, closing it behind her with a bang and reactivating the wards with a wave of her wand.

"Remember, tomorrow." she called out before walking away.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Mariam's father who died of a heart attack on Saturday, August 10th, 2013. R.I.P. I can not apologize enough for the delay in updates and the fact that this chapter is also very short. I went on vacation for three weeks, during which time I had absolutely no access to internet, electricity, running water, so yeah... I planned to update in the airport, but my stupid kindle decided to die, leaving me with nothing to update with. Anyway, sorry for the excuses, I'll try to be more quick with updates, but the next chapter should be up by September 1st. The next chapter should be its normal length of 5,000 words and I'm also reverting back to updates once every two weeks since school is starting up again and this is my last year. I'm so excited and nervous! Ciao.**


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